Supa Strikas: The Beautiful Game
by CarVie16
Summary: (Based on the soccer TV show, Supa Strikas) One-shots about Supa Strikas and their goal to defend their streak of consecutive Super League titles. There is Twisting Tiger learning Cuju, Shakes using video games to help him win, the team coaching themselves, and more.
1. Luck is All You Need

**Sometimes, more often than not, all you just is a little bit or a lot of luck.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **Leave a review and let me know what you think, if you want to. Feedback is always appreciated.**

Once again, Supa Strikas face off against the mighty Azul. This means that Shakes and El Matador have to once again deal with the giant guarding Azul's goal. That giant's name is De Los Santos, the best goalkeeper in the Super League. Supa Strikas have scored past De Los Santos before, but it's never been easy for them. Today's match is another reminder that De Los Santos will always be the most dominant goalie in the world.

 _"The second half is underway and the scores are still tied at 0," Brenda commentated._

 _"Supa Strikas' defense has kept Azul away from Big Bo, but De Los Santos is swatting away Strikas' shots like flies," said Mack._

 _"Even if Supa Strikas can keep up their impressive defensive effort, it won't be enough if they can't get the ball into the net past Santos," said Brenda._

Once again, Supa Strikas are on the offensive. They've done a brilliant job in keeping the ball away from their own half of the pitch. All that is left now is to try and get the ball into the net. They've tried and failed so many times, you might as well say, it's their bazillionth try to score.

"Hey, Cool Joe! Over here!" El Matador called, waving his hand.

Cool Joe gets past an Azul player and then crosses the ball to El Matador.

El Matador kicks the ball towards the goal. Unfortunately, the ball is caught by De Los Santos. In fact, he didn't even have to move to catch El Matador's shot.

"Better luck next time... again," Shakes teased.

"Hey, you've had as much bad luck as I've had all game long," said El Matador.

De Los Santos throws the ball to the other side of the pitch. Unfortunately for him, Twisting Tiger intercepts the ball. He twists past three Azul players, leaving them falling face-first to the ground, and then kicks the ball to Shakes.

Shakes targets the upper-left corner and kicks the ball as hard as he can. De Los Santos dives quickly and punches the ball away.

"I thought striking ze top corners doesn't vork anymore," said Klaus.

"It was worth a shot," said Shakes.

"Yeah, a terrible shot," El Matador mocked.

What follows is a series of attempts by Shakes, El Matador, and Klaus trying and failing to score against De Los Santos.

Shakes shoots towards the lower-left corner, but De Los Santos knocks it away.

El Matador shoots high towards the right side, but De Los Santos catches the ball with ease.

Klaus goes for the far right side, but De Los Santos dives and denies the shot.

Shakes jumps after Cool Joe's cross and then tries a mid-air sideways kick, shooting the ball through two Azul defenders. De Los Santos steps a little to the left to catch the ball.

El Matador tries a high-flying header, but ends up heading it towards De Los Santos.

 _"I don't know what El Matador was thinking there, but that has to be the most embarrassing attempt today," said Mack._

 _"And it looks like Supa Strikas' striker trio are winded from all the shooting," Brenda pointed out._

 _"They look worse than me when I ran a marathon, Brenda," said Mack._

Shakes, El Matador, and Klaus are slouching with their hands on their kness and trying to catch their breath.

Meanwhile, Azul have finally gotten past Supa Strikas' defense. One of Azul's strikers takes a shot, kicking the ball towards the left side. Big Bo smacks the ball away. North Shaw gains possession of the ball and passes it to Dancing Rasta. Supa Strikas' midfielders circle around the midfield while the strikers try to regain some energy.

"Maybe we should try shooting it off the post," El Matador suggested.

"No can do. Santos adapted to that one too," said Shakes.

"Vat about ze Knuckleball?" asked Klaus.

And so, Shakes tries the Knuckleball. The ball curves and circles in the air, but De Los Santos reacts at the very last second to catch it just as it was about to zoom into the high right side.

"You really think I wasn't prepared for that, Shakes?" De Los Santos said. "I trained day and night just for that shot. You better have another trick up your sleeve to beat me."

"That's it. I'm all out of ideas," said Shakes. "I guess we're just gonna have to settle for a deadlock draw."

Twisting Tiger steals the ball from an Azul striker, twists circles around him, and then passes the ball to Cool Joe. While Cool Joe tries to find an open striker, Tiger stands in the very center of the pitch, looking directly at Santos. Tiger takes out his lucky charm and holds it right in front of him. He studies all corners and sides of the goal, as well as where De Los Santos positions himself.

Tiger smiled. An imaginary light bulb just lit up over his head.

"Shakes!" Tiger called. "Get me the ball. I think I can get it past Santos."

"Hey, I couldn't score past him. What makes you think _you_ can?" El Matador questioned arrogantly.

"We've tried everything, El Matador," said Shakes. "Might as well let Tiger take a shot at it."

El Matador sighs in defeat and says, "Okay, fine."

North Shaw steals the ball from an Azul striker with a slide tackle. He runs all the way to the midfield and passes to Shakes. Shakes avoids a couple of Azul defenders as he tries to find Tiger. He stood there in the right wing, just waiting for the ball. Shakes kicks high towards the fiery-haired midfielder. Tiger kisses his lucky charm, wishing himself good luck, and then proceeds.

 _"Looks like Twisting Tiger has his eye on goal," said Brenda._

 _"Well, who better to score against the mighty De Los Santos than someone with deadly accuracy?" Mack said._

While Shakes and El Matador keep Azul's defense busy on them, Tiger tries to find a spot to shoot at. Using the crosshairs in his brain, he targets the upper-right corner.

Tiger kicks the ball in the air and then spin-kicks it with force. De Los Santos dives to the upper-right corner. Just as it looked like Santos was about to block it, the ball bounces off the post and hits the back of the net.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!" Brenda cheered. "What an unbelievable shot from Twisting Tiger. Strikas now lead one-nil."_

 _"With only fifteen minutes left, Strikas have more than enough time to add to that lead," said Mack._

El Matador runs his way towards the box with style before passing the ball to Tiger. Tiger targets the upper-right corner again. Tiger twists and then kicks the ball as hard as he can. However, it looked like the ball was about to fly into the stands. Even Santos thought so. Unexpectedly, the ball curves towards the upper-right corner.

De Los Santos dives quickly towards the upper-right corner, but the ball curves more to the left and...

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"After Shakes' Knuckleball failed, you'd think trying any kind of curveball against Santos would be ill-advised. Looks like Twisting Tiger just proved us wrong," said Brenda._

Twisting Tiger is twisting and zooming him way past every Azul player in his way. There was only fifteen seconds left, but Tiger wants the hat trick. He targets the ground on the left side of the goal. Tiger starts twisting. An Azul player tries to tackle him, but Tiger jumps in the air as he continues to twist. He takes his shot towards the spot he targeted.

De Los Santos dives right, but the ball bounces off the grass underneath him and into the net.

 _"History has just been made, ladies and gentlemen. Twisting Tiger is the first player to ever score a hat trick against De Los Santos," said Brenda._

 _"I'm beginning to wonder why they didn't go to Twisting Tiger to begin with," said Mack. "Could've saved Shakes and El Matador all that embarrassment."_

All of Tiger's teammates surround him and cheer for him. The crowd cheered as well, cheering Tiger on.

"Dude, that was amazing," said North. "Maybe we should just let you score all the goals from now on."

"Hey!" El Matador objected. "I'm the star striker here."

"Yeah, but you weren't the one who scored 3 goals past the big bad Santos," said North.

"Razarag Zigazor?" asked Blok.

"Yeah, how did you do it, Tiger?" Shakes asked, translating Blok.

Tiger takes out his lucky charm and kisses it, saying, "Just lucky, I guess."

"Luck or no luck, this is your game, Tiger," said Rasta.

"Hey!"

De Los Santos walked towards Supa Strikas. Everyone stepped back as De Los Santos stares down Twisting Tiger. Just when it looked like Santos wanted a fight, he just extends his hand forward, seeking a handshake. Tiger obliged.

"Nice job," said De Los Santos. "But you just got lucky."

"Hey, sometimes, luck is all you need," Tiger said positively.

 **Well, that was fun. Hey, Twisting Tiger is my favorite Supa Strika.**


	2. Symbolic

**I always thought Nakama should be an even deadlier team than how they're portrayed in the show. C'mon, they're ninjas who play soccer. What's scarier than that?**

Nakama are visiting Palmentieri following five straight victories. Grimm, Invincible United, Orion, and back-to-back games versus Iron Tank. That's right. Nakama beat the mighty Iron Tank in two straight games. In those five games, Nakama have scored 20 goals and shut all teams down to 0 points. Palmentieri coach, Edwin, trained his players in the jungle like he trained Supa Strikas. He believes speed, agility, and balance are the keys to beating Nakama.

Oh, boy was he wrong.

 _"Only thirty minutes left in the game and Nakama still have a 3-point lead," Brenda commentated._

 _"This is quite painful, Brenda," said Mack. "Palmentieri usually play like a team who could school most teams, but Nakama are making them look like children."_

 _"Here comes Don Aldo on the attack," said Brenda. "Can he finally get Palmentieri on the board?"_

Don Aldo dances past one Nakama defender and jumps over another Nakama player's tackle. He was about to take his shot, until out of nowhere...

Miko Chen swipes the ball from him with a martial-arts-like kick. Miko zooms through the midfield like the wind, leaving Palmentieri's defense in the dust. Miko and Nakama execute one of their new passing formations, baffling Palmentieri's defense. Miko runs straight while two of his teammates run in opposite directions perpendicular to Miko's path as they passed the ball at a rapid rate.

 _"And there's Nakama's strange but unique type of passing," said Brenda._

 _"Sublime," said Mack._

 _"If the Orion Code was a gigantic head scratcher, Nakama's new passing formations are a real doozy," said Brenda._

Miko Chen gets past two Palmentieri defenders with ease, using his phenomenal agility and incredible ball control. Miko takes his shot towards the left side and...

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Four-nil Nakama," said Brenda._

One of Palmentieri's midfielders tries to smooth his way to the box, but Sakarama swipes the ball from him with a swift tackle.

A Palmentieri defender headers the ball towards Don Aldo, but Nakama's #20 striker comes out of nowhere to intercept the pass.

Don Aldo once again tries to dance his way through the defense, but Miko Chen slides out of nowhere for the tackle, sending the ball straight to the Nakama keeper.

 _"It's no longer painful, Brenda. It's very ugly out there for Don Aldo," said Mack._

Miko Chen uses swift turns to get through the defense and takes another shot. Two Palmentieri defenders run straight at him, so Miko passes the ball to his fellow Nakama striker with a swift high kick. Nakama's #20 kicks the ball past a Palmentieri striker and straight to Sakarama. Sakarama kicks the ball towards the net and scores.

5-0 Nakama.

A Palmentieri midfielder makes it past one Nakama defender, but Miko Chen tackles the ball away from him before he could even react. Miko spins past three defenders on his way to the other side and gives the ball up again, this time in the form of a swift heel kick.

Nakama's #18 (the one with the red highlights in his hair) jumps high and uses a header.

6-0 Nakama.

 _"What an embarrassing display from Palmentieri," said Mack._

 _"Like you said, Mack, Nakama are schooling them," said Brenda._

 _"It's more like a playground playdate with children out there for Nakama," said Mack._

Don Aldo is once again on his own, trying to use his agility and samba mastery to get past Nakama's defenders. Don Aldo has his eye on goal, but there's only one obstacle left in path. Miko Chen.

 _"Don Aldo vs. Miko Chen. Who will win?" Mack wondered._

Don Aldo started dribbling the ball left and right slowly, trying to keep Miko guessing. Don Aldo then busts some moves with the ball, spinning and swerving with style. Miko kept up with him, but Don Aldo manages to slip right through him. Suddenly, Don Aldo falls on his back in embarrassing fashion. Wondering how this happened, he turned around to see that Miko had stolen the ball from him.

Miko kicks the ball past the midfield and runs his way to Palmentieri's goal. A Nakama midfielder eludes a Palmentieri striker before passing the ball high.

Miko Chen has his eyes on the pass, seeking his fifth goal of the game. Miko jumps in the air, hangs in a sideways angle, and then takes his shot. Palmentieri's goalie dives high, but not high enough.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!" Brenda cheered. "Nakama take the game, seven-nil. They have gone from one of the most dangerous teams in the Super League to the mighty dragons of football."_

 _"I'm sure Supa Strikas are shaking in their boots right now," said Mack. "With Nakama's massive improvement, I'd be too scared to even step on the pitch, Brenda."_

* * *

Mack was right. Supa Strikas are indeed "shaking in their boots" right now. In fact, they've been watching the game from Strikaland's viewing room. Shakes, El Matador, North Shaw, and Blok opened their eyes wide and hung their mouths wide open, shocked by what they just saw. Dancing Rasta, Twisting Tiger, and Cool Joe were definitely looking mousy right now. Klaus hid behind his favorite Moofie doll in fear. Big Bo tried to look calm, but failed to do so. He was glad he wasn't the Palmentieri goalkeeper in that game.

"Man, I knew Nakama mean business, but that was..." North paused.

"They made Palma look like 5-year-olds just learning soccer for the first time," said El Matador. Even his monumental ego can't stop him from fearing Nakama right now.

"How Miko made Don Aldo look... man, we are in a world of trouble, brothers," said Cool Joe.

"And that is why we're going to train extra, extra, extra hard for next week's match," said Coach.

"I don't know what's scarier. Nakama or Coach's extra, extra, extra hard training?" Shakes whispered to his fellow striker.

 **~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ SUPA STRIKAS ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~**

For the next six days, Coach trained his players extra hard for their match against Nakama. He wanted his players to be physically and mentally prepared. That included a lot of parameters and heavy exercises.

50 push-ups a day.

30 sit-ups a day.

A bunch of stretching and upper-body exercises, performed at 150% compared to normal human limits.

Running. Lots of it. 90-100 laps around the pitch every day.

90-minute scrimmages.

Everyone got exhausted every single day. Good night's sleep can only benefit them so much. Once they get back to training, they feel like they've run two marathons on the same day.

* * *

Seven days after the beginning of training...

 _"Match day. Live at Ga Shuku stadium," Brenda commentated. "Nakama's six-game winning streak have put them at a tie with Supa Strikas on the top of the Super League ladder. Whoever wins tonight breaks the tie."_

 _"We know Nakama will be breathing fire, Brenda, but the questions is... will Supa Strikas break their winning streak?" Mack wondered._

Unfortunately, Supa Strikas look a little winded. They were training for hours yesterday and only stopped just before dinner time. And they were ordered to go to sleep right after dinner. To put it simply, they didn't get any rest besides bed rest, but their bodies were still strained from all the training.

"Let me guess, Coach. Extracurricular activities?" Ura Giri mocked, noticing Supa Strikas' current physical state. He still remembered when Shakes, Klaus, and El Matador spent an entire night at a shopping mall instead of sleeping.

"The only activities they had this past week is hard training," said Coach.

"Then you overdid it," said Ura Giri. "Big mistake, Coach."

North was doing some stretching, but his fellow defender was too busy cuddling his teddy bear, Aristotle, like a little girl in her room during a thunderstorm.

"Dude, you're not supposed to bring a toy on the pitch," said North.

"Razarakle Zaga Zug," Blok said, sounding like a scared little boy.

As soon as the whistle blew, Nakama wasted no time making Supa Strikas look just as pathetic as Palmentieri. Supa Strikas tried to fight through the pain in their bodies, to little avail.

Miko Chen spins past El Matador, who falls on his face in an attempt to run after the Nakama star.

Dancing Rasta spins himself out of control trying to guard a Nakama midfielder.

The ball is in the air and Shakes competes with a Nakama striker for it. Shakes, however, jumped too low and falls on his face after the Nakama striker headers the ball to Miko Chen.

Miko Chen and his teammates use yet another one of their new passing formations to confuse Supa Strikas' defenders. Miko runs across the field in a straight line as he gave it up to Sakarama. Sakarama shoots a curveball right around North Shaw to Nakama's #18, who finds Miko. The Nakama striker snuck his way around the defense while his teammates kept them occupied.

"Dude, are you seeing stars?" North babbled, dizzy from running in circles.

"Ragalrar," Blok replied.

Miko Chen quickly takes his shot, aiming for the left side. Big Bo dives right, but falls short (literally).

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!" Brenda cheered. "Just ten minutes in and Nakama are already on the scoreboard."_

 _"Supa Strikas look like they've been working too hard in the gym," said Mack._

 _"If they're injured, then what is Coach thinking about not forfeiting the match?" Brenda wondered._

Big Bo kicks the ball straight to Cool Joe, but Miko Chen intercepts it with a flying kick. Miko Chen passes the ball to his teammate, who uses a slick move to get past Dancing Rasta.

El Matador chases the Nakama player, but stops to catch his breath.

"How can I be tired after just fifteen minutes?" El Matador wondered.

"At least your spine doesn't feel like it's about to break," said North Shaw, whose back is aching a bit.

The Nakama player with the ball starts another one of Nakama's new passing formations. A Nakama midfield goes for a short pass to Nakama's #18, who makes a spectacular mid-air spin kick, sending the ball Miko Chen's way. Big Bo gets risky and lunges forward at the Nakama striker. Miko Chen jumps over Big Bo with a back flip and kicks the ball with style.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Two-nil Nakama," said Brenda. "Supa Strikas need to up their game soon or Nakama might just make this an even more lopsided match than their last one."_

Shakes runs as fast as he can towards Nakama's goal, but Miko Chen zooms in and steals the ball from him.

Twisting Tiger uses his twisting move in an attempt to steal the ball from Miko, but Miko uses an unbelievable spin move and a very high self-pass to avoid his former teammate.

Klaus runs as fast as he can towards Miko Chen, but Miko steps aside swiftly, leaving Klaus to trip himself and fall down.

Miko uses a series of self-passes to elude Blok. Miko zooms into the box while Blok ends up stumbling backwards and falling on North, unintentionally opening the door for Nakama.

"Dude... agh... get off," North whined.

Once again, it's Miko Chen versus Big Bo. Miko Chen passes the ball to himself and kicks the ball with extreme force. Big Bo dives left, but the ball curves the other way. Just when it looked like Miko Chen would get a seventh straight hat trick, Twisting Tiger comes out of nowhere and kicks the ball out of bounds.

 _"What a save by the former Nakama striker!" Brenda exclaimed._

The ref blows the whistle, signalling halftime.

Ura Giri laughs evilly, basking in Nakama's halftime lead. Coach, meanwhile, was losing his mind, frustrated with his players.

* * *

At Supa Strikas locker room...

Shakes was icing his knee. El Matador iced both his shoulders and his left ankle. Cool Joe iced his right ankle. Dancing Rasta iced his right arm. Klaus iced his head. Blok iced both his knees. North Shaw iced his head, shoulders, and knees. Big Bo dipped his hands in a bucket of ice.

Twisting Tiger, on the other hand, didn't need any ice.

"This is getting out of hand," said Coach. "Have you learned nothing in training?"

"We did learn something," said El Matador. "That there is such a thing as too much training. To think, I had to miss out that rock n' roll party two days ago for 50 laps around the pitch."

"Maybe we should've went to ninja school," said Shakes. "Then we would've been ready for today."

"They're just jumping over us, running past us like shadows in the night," said North.

"How in the world are we gonna beat a team that can disappear from our sight as soon as we blink?" Cool Joe wondered.

"Tiger, buddy. I know you can't tell us any of Nakama's secrets, but do you at least have any advice?" asked El Matador.

Twisting Tiger, however, was busy contemplating in front of the whiteboard. He seemed to be writing the Japanese alphabet. Everyone was just confused at why he was writing a poem or something at a time like this.

"Tiger, this is no time for Japanese poetry," said Coach.

"It's not poetry, Coach," said Tiger. "Nakama's new passing formations. They match the symbols of the Japanese alphabet."

"Hey... you're right," said Shakes, comparing the Japanese symbol of "sa" with one of the passing formations Nakama used in the first half.

"Even if we can break Nakama's rhythm, they'll break ours before we can even make it to the goal," said Cool Joe.

"Maybe it's time we stop playing our playbook," Shakes suggested.

"What are you saying, Shakes?" asked Coach.

"It's not just that we're too banged up to keep up with Nakama. It's that they're expecting us to play the game we usually play," said Shakes. "Nakama caught us by surprise with their new passing technique. Maybe it's time we surprise them."

* * *

The second half has begun and Supa Strikas begin by keeping the ball away from Nakama. Dancing Rasta keeps his distance from the Nakama midfielder chasing him. He passes the ball to Cool Joe, who quickly kicks it to Twisting Tiger on the right wing. Twisting Tiger twists past Sakarama before passing the ball to Klaus.

 _"Well, well. Coach must've woken up the team during halftimes, because they look like the great team they've always been," said Brenda._

 _"Question is, will they ever attempt a shot against Nakama's goal?" said Mack._

Two Nakama defenders were about to crowd Klaus. In panic, he passes the ball to El Matador. El Matador jumps over a Nakama player's slide tackle attempt and then shoots. The ball hits the right side of the net before Nakama's keeper could block it.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!" Mack cheered. "Supa Strikas are on the board."_

 _"Wow! What teamwork by Supa Strikas. They've caught Nakama completely by surprise," said Brenda. "Do they have any more surprises in store?"_

 _"With fifteen minutes left in the match, they better," said Mack. "Or else they'll be burned to the ground by Nakama's fiery streak. Ha! Get it, Brenda? Burned? Fiery?"_

Brenda just rolls her eyes.

Dancing Rasta, Cool Joe, and Twisting Tiger stay close as they prepare for another midfield attack.

"Alright, guys. We've surprised Nakama by showing them we still got it. Now it's time to execute Shakes' plan," said Rasta.

"We're with you, captain," said Tiger.

Cool Joe and Twisting Tiger, for some reason, switch wings. Dancing Rasta passes to El Matador, who was immediately marked by two defenders. El Matador passes back to Dancing Rasta, who taps the ball to Cool Joe on the right wing. Cool Joe kicks the ball high to Twisting Tiger on the right wing. Rasta gets the ball back and gives it back to El Matador, who only had one man on him. El Matador seemingly kicks the ball towards the audience, until the ball curves right and heads towards Shakes.

Unbeknownst to Nakama, what Supa Strikas just did is trace the Japanese symbol for "chi." Nakama's defense is scattered, leaving Shakes with room to score.

Shakes takes his shot from outside the penalty arc. Nakama's keeper dives to the upper-right corner, but the ball zooms past him.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"What amazing ball movement by Supa Strikas," said Brenda._

 _"I guess they decided to take a page out of Ura Giri's playbook, and it's working," said Mack._

 _"Only two minutes left in the game, which is enough time for either team to break the tie," said Brenda._

The tables have turned. Coach is smiling at his players' performance while Ura Giri is losing his cool just looking at the scoreboard.

"One more time, Shakes," said Tiger.

"Ready when you are," said Shakes.

Once again, Supa Strikas use confusing ball movement to mesmerize Nakama's defense. North Shaw passes the ball to Twisting Tiger, who kicks a curveball to Shakes. Shakes performs a mid-air kick that sends the ball curving towards Cool Joe. Cool Joe taps the ball to Klaus.

 _"Are Supa Strikas settling for a draw or is this another complex tactic from Coach?" Mack wondered, confused by the endless passing._

Klaus passes the ball with a heel kick. Right behind him is Twisting Tiger. Tiger jumps in the air and kicks the ball with so much force. The ball zooms towards the high right side of the post. Nakama's goalkeeper dives left, but dove too low.

 _"Ha-ha! What an unbelievable comeback by Supa Strikas," said Mack._

 _"Is it just me, Mack, or did that last formation look familiar?" Brenda wondered._

As a matter of fact, it was. Supa Strikas' passing resembled the Japanese symbol for "pi." Twisting Tiger represents the small circle, as he delivered the winning shot at the right spot.

"I don't understand this. How?!" Ura Giri whined.

"I'll tell you how. They played the way they believed they should play to beat you, Ura Giri," said Coach. "Great game, though. You gave us quite a scare."

Coach asked for a handshake, but Ura Giri just turned his back on Supa Strikas' tactical genius.

 **Not bad, huh? I hope.**


	3. Slay the Giants

**I think it's time for one of those games where Supa Strikas just casually humiliate their opponents. Enjoy.**

 **I'd like to thank this user for submitting the story's first review: Tira-kun**

 ** _To Tira-kun_: Thank you for the review. I really, really, really appreciate it. Thanks for sharing your opinion on Tiger, as well as telling your favorite part. I thought it would be nice if Santos showed Tiger some respect.**

Today, Supa Strikas take on one of the league's largest teams, Colossus. Colossus are indeed large, but it takes more than size to be an elite team. That's the lesson Supa Strikas intend to teach Colossus today.

 _"Colossus may have the size advantage, but Supa Strikas are the team that are known to adapt to pretty much anything," said Brenda._

 _"Well, let's see what the Men in Red have in store for the Giants in Green," said Mack._

Colossus have the ball first. The Blonde-Goatee'd striker takes his first shot, but Big Bo saves the ball with a swift dive to the right. He kicks the ball to the midfield, where Dancing Rasta is ready to set up a play.

Supa Strikas go with an old-fashioned play. Cool Joe crosses. Shakes shoots with his signature Bicycle Kick. The ball hits the right side of the net, right pass the Colossus Keeper.

Supa Strikas lead 1-0.

North Shaw slide-tackles the ball from the Chinstrap'd Colossus player and kicks the ball straight to Rasta. Rasta gives the ball to Twisting Tiger. Tiger starts twisting and causes Percy to collide with his Blonde-Goatee'd teammate. Tiger passes the ball to Cool Joe, who crosses the ball into the box. El Matador goes for the header and the ball goes in through the lower-right corner.

Supa Strikas now lead 2-0.

The Zeus-looking Colossus player passes the ball high to Percy, but Big Bo jumps high and punches the ball away.

North Shaw takes the ball to the midfield, swiftly dribbling the ball pass a Colossus defender along the way. North kicks the ball to El Matador, who headers the ball to Shakes. Shakes kicks the ball with force and hits the upper-left corner with ease.

Supa Strikas lead 3-0.

Twisting Tiger tackles the ball away from a Colossus player with his signature twisting. Dancing Rasta does some fancy dancing and dribbling to elude the Zeus-lookalike and the Chinstrap'd Colossus player.

Cool Joe kicks the ball right through a Colossus defender's legs as he spins pass him. Cool Joe passes the ball to El Matador. El Matador runs straight at Colossus' keeper and lightly kicks the ball over his head.

Supa Strikas lead 4-0 at halftime.

 _"Wow! What a first half performance," said Brenda. "Colossus might as well forfeit the match, because Supa Strikas are really making it look easy out there."_

 _"They're making Colossus look like a bunch of rookies, Brenda," said Mack._

* * *

Onto the second half...

 _"The second half is underway and Supa Strikas have a huge lead against Colossus," said Brenda._

 _"All hopes for Colossus to trample Supa Strikas have gone out the window at the 45-minute mark," said Mack. "The real question now is, how many more goals will Supa Strikas score?"_

The Brown-Ponytail'd Colossus player passes the ball to Percy, but Blok intercepts it and kicks the ball straight to Klaus, who runs towards the Colossus goal with his two fellow strikers.

"You know what, Klaus? How about you take this one?" Shakes suggested.

"Yeah, these guys are a piece of cake," El Matador said boastfully.

"Okay zen," Klaus agreed.

Shakes and El Matador draw the defense away so their teammate can get open. Klaus gets past the Zeus-lookalike and kicks the ball towards the left side. Colossus' keeper doesn't dive far enough.

Supa Strikas lead 5-0.

 _"Wow! Now all three of Supa Strikas' forwards are on the scoreboard," said Brenda, wowed._

"Hey, captain," Shakes called. "Next goal's yours."

Rasta laughs, enjoying the game. "If you say so, Shakes mon," he said.

Big Bo denies Percy's header, catching it out of the air, and throws the ball high into the sky. Knowing exactly where Big Bo throws it, Shakes gains possession of the ball as two Colossus players chase him. Shakes passes behind him to Rasta. Rasta kicks the ball hard. Colossus' keeper barely had any time to react as the ball zoomed into the net.

Supa Strikas lead 6-0.

 _"Even the Strikas' captain is getting in on the action," said Mack. "At this rate, they might as well let Big Bo score."_

"I think it's time for Strikas' #7 to score goal #7," Cool Joe said to himself, planning to score the next goal.

Klaus passes the ball to Tiger, who kicks the ball all the way to Cool Joe. Cool Joe dances his way pass Percy as he keeps his eyes on the goal. Cool Joe performs his brand new cross, the Corkscrew. The ball spins on the grass, just making everyone watch in anticipation. Colossus' keeper remains frozen as the ball suddenly zooms into the goal.

Supa Strikas lead 7-0.

 _"Just unbelievable," said Brenda. "Cool Joe usually uses the Corkscrew to for crossing, but it's not like this is the first time he's used it to score."_

 _"Colossus might as well just buy some popcorn and sit for the rest of the match, because all they've done is watch," Mack joked._

Brenda actually laughed.

"Hey, Cool Joe," Tiger called. "I think it's time I use my new move to score."

"No problem, brother. Just get open and I'll deliver the package," said Cool Joe.

Supa Strikas gain possession again after a steal/tackle by North Shaw. Cool Joe keeps his eyes on Tiger. Cool Joe steps out of his comfort zone and kicks the ball straight to his fellow midfielder. Twisting Tiger catches the ball and then executes his new move, the Upside-Down Twisting Tornado. Everyone stands back as Tiger just spins and spins and spins. Tiger then shoots. Colossus' keeper fails to react as the ball zooms at high speed right pass him.

Supa Strikas lead 8-0.

 _"Spectacular goal by Twisting Tiger," said Brenda. "The Colossus goalie surely didn't see that coming."_

 _"At this point, Supa Strikas are just experimenting," said Mack. "Maybe they should let the young Strikas fans on the field and let them practice on Colossus."_

North Shaw gets another steal, tackling the ball away from the Chinstrap'd Colossus player. He joins Dancing Rasta, Cool Joe, and Twisting Tiger in the midfield.

"Yo, dudes! Let me get in on the party," said North.

"All yours, mon," said Rasta.

North passes the ball to El Matador, who kicks the ball back to North without even looking. North takes his shot. Colossus' keeper dives high to the right, but North's shot curves into the net.

Supa Strikas lead 9-0.

 _"Seriously! This is just humiliating for Colossus," said Mack, who is now eating popcorn._

 _"With only two minutes left, Supa Strikas have a chance for one more goal," said Brenda. "If they get this one, it'll go down in history. No team in the Super League has scored double-digit goals for nearly twenty years."_

 _"$20 says Shakes scores the tenth goal," Mack bet._

Cool Joe is just toying with Colossus right now, dancing casually around them while dribbling the ball with style. Twisting Tiger starts twisting circles around the Blonde-Goatee'd Colossus player until he fainted. Tiger passes the ball back to Cool Joe. El Matador is marked, but Shakes is wide open. Cool Joe pulls off the Corkscrew once again. The ball heads straight to Shakes.

Shakes kicks the ball and, to Colossus' surprise, it starts spinning and curving all over the place. It's the Knuckleball! Colossus' keeper goes the wrong way.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Ten-nil Supa Strikas," said Brenda._

 _"Brenda," Mack called, holding his hand out._

Brenda takes out her wallet and reluctantly pays Mack $20.

The clock hits 90 and the ref blows the whistle, signaling the end of the game. Supa Strikas celebrate history. For the first time in two decades, a Super League scored double-digit goals in a game.

"Why can't it always be this easy?" El Matador said while cheering.

"Rizarga zurkle, zurka blarzag," said Blok.

"Yeah, not everyone is as lame as Colossus," North insulted. He looks at the opposing team and casually says, "Hey, no offense, dudes."

"Amazing game, guys," said Rasta. "We really showed the world why we won the last four Super League titles."

"All it takes is the right groove, captain," said Cool Joe, dancing.

"Feels good to finally use my upside-down twist to score a goal," said Tiger.

"Hey, try it again next time, Tiger. It's almost as unstoppable as the Knuckleball," said Shakes. "Almost."

Supa Strikas just laugh as they celebrate their 10-0 victory over Colossus.

 **Well, that was embarrassing... for Colossus.**

 **A/N: It was hard describing the other Colossus players when they don't have any given names (besides Percy). I just describe their looks and hope you guys recognize them on the show.**


	4. Think Like a Gamer

**I think it's time to deliver one of the promises I left in the story summary. I did mention "Shakes using video games to help him win", right? Well, now it's time to deliver.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **Leave a review if you like. Feedback is always appreciated. Always.**

 **I'd like to thank the following user for reviewing the previous chapter: Tira-kun**

 ** _To Tira-kun_: I'm really glad you're enjoying this. A simple internet search really helps understand the Japanese symbols in Nakama's passing.**

It was another day for training at Supa Strikas' Secret Training Compound. Coach, however, was not present yet. As they waited, they did some basic warm-ups. Shakes, on the other hand, was playing the brand new Super League 5000X. Klaus and North Shaw watch him play. They've grown to love the game, as they were impressed by how amazingly video games can imitate real life soccer. Not to mention, their moves were motion-captured by the gaming industry and they wanted to see it in action on the game.

Right now, it's Supa Strikas vs. Invincible United. Shakes, of course, plays his own team. The score is tied at 3-3 with only 15 minutes left.

"Go left. Go left," said Klaus.

"Watch out for Skarra, dude," said North.

Shakes gets himself past Skarra and towards the midfield. He then quickly started a special formation of his own. He passes to Twisting Tiger on the right wing, then has him pass the ball across the midfield to Cool Joe. El Matador slashes through the midfield in time for Cool Joe to pass it to him. Shakes makes El Matador pass back to him. Shakes makes himself take the shot and...

GOOOOOOAAAL!

Supa Strikas win 4-3.

"Dude, that was amazing," said North.

"Is it just me, or did zat last formation look like ze letter X?" asked Klaus.

"That's because it is," said Shakes. "I call it... ShaX."

"Big ego, much?" North criticized.

"No, it's spelled S-h-a and then capital X," said Shakes.

"Oh," North replied. "Cool name for a cool formation. I'm guessing _you_ always take the shot."

"Super League 5000X comes with a setting where you can tinker with the coach's playbook," said Shakes. "I just had to put myself, Cool Joe, Rasta, Tiger, and El Matador at the right spot at the right time."

"Shakes mon!" Rasta called. "Are you ready to practice or not?"

"I was just about done anyway," said Shakes.

"Think ve can try the ShaX for real?" Klaus wondered.

"I'd love to, but I'm not sure Coach will approve of it," said Shakes.

"Leave the video game stuff in the video games, Shakes. We're jamming the real thing against United tomorrow," said Cool Joe. "Well, what are you waiting for, brother? Big Bo's waiting."

"Give your best shot, Shakes," said Big Bo.

And so, Shakes takes a deep breath and kicks the ball. Big Bo dives left, but didn't dive high enough. Shakes scores.

* * *

At The Vice, Dingaan was playing Super League 5000X. Dooma watched. Dingaan too was playing Supa Strikas vs. Invincible United, and just like Shakes, he playing his own team. However, unlike Shakes, Dingaan is having trouble winning. Supa Strikas lead 6-2 with only 10 minutes left. Dingaan is trying to get Skarra through the midfield, but Strikas' defense was tight. Twisting Tiger ends up stealing the ball from Skarra with his signature twisting move.

Skarra comes in to see what Dingaan was doing.

"What are you doing, you knucklehead?" asked Skarra.

"Playing Super League 5000X," said Dingaan. "You should try it. It's fun."

"Pfft! It's just fake soccer, doofus," said Skarra.

"C'mon, Skarra. Nothing wrong with a little bit of fun," said Dooma.

"Seriously, Dooma. What is wrong with you?" asked Skarra. "You act like Refab Dooma, yet you're still aggressive on the field."

"Hey, I only went through a less intense treatment with better results," said Dooma. "Why do you think I'm United's captain again?"

"Don't need to remind me about it," Skarra said bitterly.

Dingaan plays again. Once again, he plays Invincible United fighting against Supa Strikas.

"Is this how you plan to prepare for Supa Strikas, Dingaan?" Skarra questioned angrily. "Playing games?"

"Hey, who knows? Maybe we can learn from the game," said Dingaan. "Maybe we could do this..."

Dingaan has Skarra pass to Automatic, who passes it right up and over Blok. Dooma kicks it behind him to Dingaan for the header. He scores against Big Bo, giving Invincible United a 1-0 lead.

"Hmm. Maybe we can give it a shot," said Dooma, liking the move that Dingaan just pulled.

"If we are, _I'm_ the one scoring the goal," said Skarra.

* * *

Once again, it's time for Supa Strikas to take on their arch-rivals, Invincible United. They have faced each other in three of the last four Super League Finals matches and both teams want another shot at each other in the Finals. Supa Strikas are at the top of the standings, while Invincible United is right behind them, Nakama, and Iron Tank. Vince desperately wants his team to start winning more games, but today's match will make that goal whole lot more difficult.

"This is a bad idea," Skarra muttered.

"I know it sounds ridiculous, Skarra, but Supa Strikas won't be expecting it," said Dooma. "We catch them off guard, and we have the advantage. Stick to the game plan."

"Yes, captain," Skarra said sarcastically.

And the match begins. Supa Strikas get the ball first. They used sublime passing to get past the midfield. But with Dooma's leadership, Invincible United's defense clogged the penalty box. Cool Joe crosses the ball to El Matador, but Dingaan headers the pass away.

Now, it's Invincible United on the attack. Dooma and Skarra use quick passing to get the ball past Twisting Tiger. Shakes gets in Skarra's way and the two end up playing a one-on-one matchup. North Shaw comes out of nowhere to slide-tackle the ball away from Skarra.

Invincible United's Keeper makes the huge mistake of lunging after Cool Joe's cross. El Matador manages to tap the ball to Shakes, who had an open opportunity to score. Thanks to Dooma's leadership, Automatic shows up at the right time to kick the ball out of bounds before Shakes could kick it.

Dooma gets past Dancing Rasta and passes the ball right through Blok's legs. Skarra takes his shot, but Big Bo dives fast to catch the ball.

 _"Looks like we're in for a tightly-contested match, Mack," said Brenda. "Supa Strikas and Invincible United are giving it all they got in the first twenty minutes."_

 _"It's been quite an entertaining display of defensive stops for both teams," said Mack. "But who will score the first goal? Who, Brenda? Who?! WHO?!"_

Supa Strikas have the ball again. Klaus gets past two Invincible United defenders and passes the ball to El Matador. El Matador takes his shot, kicking the ball towards the lower-left corner, but United's Goalie blocks the ball.

Automatic gets possession of the ball and passes it all the way to Dooma in the midfield. Dooma passes the ball to Skarra. While Skarra works his way past Shakes and Dancing Rasta, Dooma looks at Dingaan and gives him a hand signal. It looked like Dooma was playing with an imaginary video game controller. Dingaan nodded.

 _"That's a rather odd hand signal from Invincible United's captain," said Brenda._

 _"He looks like he's texting on an imaginary phone," said Mack. "What is this? High school?"_

Dingaan takes the ball towards Strikas' box. Just as North Shaw was about to tackle him, Dingaan kicks the ball high. The ball goes up and over Blok and was about to land close to the goal. Big Bo dives after it, but Dooma gets to it first and kick it high behind him to Skarra. With Big Bo on the ground, Skarra scores the easy header.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Invincible United have secured a one-nil lead as halftime approaches," said Brenda._

 _"That was an incredible move, Brenda. Where do you think they learned that?" Mack wondered. "And what does Dooma's strange hang signal have to do with it?"_

 _"Beats me, Mack. Beats me," said Brenda._

Dooma and Dingaan hi-five. Skarra just rolls his eyes, still hating the idea of using Dingaan's ideas. But if it helps I.U. win, fine.

* * *

At Supa Strikas' locker room...

"Man, I know United are good, but that move... more than good," said Cool Joe.

"I almost had it," said Big Bo. "But it's like they knew what they were doing."

"We're only down one goal. It's either we win or we settle for a draw," said Coach. "Don't let this one move ruin your confidence. We all make mistakes. We just have to stick to our strategy and play harder in the second half."

Everyone nodded and agreed, except for Shakes. He looked like he was thinking about something. He was scratching his chin even.

"Something on your mind, Shakes?" asked Coach.

"The move that United did, I've seen it before," said Shakes.

"Vere?" asked Klaus.

Shakes reaches into his bag and takes out his video game console.

"Are you serious, Shakes?" El Matador questioned.

Shakes explains himself. "I played online back at home last week, under the handle SupaStrikas10, and I went up against this guy called DingDong. I won, of course. 5-3. But DingDong performed this one move that looked exactly like the move United did. A high pass right over Blok. The receiver gets close to the goal and passes it back to to a striker for a header."

"What are you saying, mon?" asked Rasta.

"DingDong played Invincible United, which can only mean that DingDong is Dingaan," said Shakes.

Everyone gasped in shock and disbelief.

"Remember when we showed up at the SL5000X gaming center with Invincible United?" Shakes asked. "Well, I saw Dingaan playing SL4000X. He's a gamer, just like me. No coincidence he would use one of his special moves in the game."

"So, if Dingaan plays video games, what does that mean for us? Is he gonna keep using video game formations to help his team win?" El Matador replied.

"We used video games against Nakama and it's worked. Maybe now it's time we use video games against Invincible United," Shakes suggested.

Coach tosses a marker for the whiteboard to Shakes and says, "What formations do you have in mind?"

"Ooh, I think I know one he's gonna use," said North.

"I can't vait," Klaus said excitedly.

* * *

Onto the second half...

 _"Twelve minutes into the second half and neither team has attempted a shot," said Brenda. "With Invincible United leading by 1, Supa Strikas need to step it up in the hopes for a draw."_

 _"I don't know, Brenda. Dooma's doing another one of those crazy hand signals," said Mack._

Dooma was once against doing the "invisible controller" hand signal, only this time he moved it left and then right, meaning it's gonna be something different from the formation in the first half.

Dingaan gives the ball to an Invincible United midfielder, who stops when North Shaw got in his way. Seeing Skarra sneaking in, the Invincible United midfielder kicks the ball through North's legs and straight to Skarra. Skarra passes the ball to Dingaan, who goes at Blok before passing to the other side. Just as Skarra was about to get the ball, Shakes swoops in and steals the ball from him.

 _"Amazing anticipation by Shakes," said Brenda._

Shakes leads the attack. He looks at Rasta and gives him a hand signal. A shaking fist. Shakes gives the ball to Rasta as he runs towards United's goal. Rasta gets back Dooma as he searches for Shakes. Thanks to El Matador, Shakes gets open on the right side. After dancing past Automatic, Rasta passes the ball high. Shakes jumps in a sideways angle, turns 180 degrees, and then shoots with a header. Invincible United's Keeper mistakenly dives left as the ball zooms to his right.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!" Brenda cheered._

 _"What teamwork between Shakes and Dancing Rasta for the equalizer," said Mack._

 _"With less than thirty minutes left, can either team break the tie?" Brenda wondered._

After a tackle from Blok, Supa Strikas' midfield go on the attack. Shakes gives Rasta another hand signal, an open hand shaking. Cool Joe and Twisting Tiger go deep towards the corner as Rasta prepares himself. El Matador runs from one side of the box to the other. Rasta passes the ball to El Matador, who kicks the ball to Cool Joe. Cool Joe runs towards the right side and kicks it towards the goal. Invincible United's keeper runs left even though the ball looked like it was way off. Surprisingly, Twisting Tiger passes the ball with a mid-air kick. With United's Keeper out of his zone, Shakes simply kicks the ball into the net.

 _"Wh-ho, Mack! That was a risky but exceptional from Supa Strikas," said Brenda._

 _"These shaky formations are really helping both Supa Strikas' performance and Shakes' goal count," said Mack. "Ha-ha! Shaky? Shakes? Maybe that was the point."_

 _"Hard to argue with you, Mack. Shakes has been the one orchestrating Supa Strikas' offense," said Mack._

Invincible United execute yet another formation from Dingaan's game. Skarra was at the heart of Supa Strikas' box. An I.U. midfielder was at the left side. Dingaan was at the right side. Dooma stood at the top of the key. After some deceptive ball movement, Dooma fools Blok and passes it to Dingaan. Dooma runs past Blok with his head turned for a second. Dingaan passes the ball back to Dooma. Dooma finds Skarra wide open in the middle. Skara shoots... but Big Bo swats the shot away.

 _"Fantastic ball movement by Invincible United, but an equally fantastic save by Big Bo," said Brenda._

 _"Forty-five seconds left, Brenda. All Supa Strikas need to do is protect the ball," said Mack._

 _"Unless Shakes wants to execute another one of his shaky formations for a hat trick," said Brenda._

While Klaus and North Shaw try to get the ball past Invincible United's midfield defense, Shakes and Skarra race towards the other side. Typical. These two are always at each other's necks.

"Hey, Skarra. I never pegged you as a gamer. Guess I thought wrong," Shakes teased.

Skarra growls and says, "That was Dingaan's stupid idea."

"I gotta hand to him. He's quite the gamer," said Shakes. "But it's time to show you and him what a real gamer looks like."

Shakes crosses his arms for an X-shaped signal and shakes his fists as well. As soon as North and Klaus got the message, Shakes out-sprints Skarra as North passes the ball to him.

"Time for the ShaX special," said North.

Shakes passes the ball to Twisting Tiger on the right wing, then Tiger kicks the ball across the midfield to North Shaw. Klaus slashes through the midfield in time for North to pass it to him. Shakes asks Klaus to pass the ball back to him. Shakes take the shot and...

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Supa Strikas, 3-1!" Mack cheered. "All thanks to some unusual but impressive formations created by Shakes. Where do you think he gets it from?"_

 _"Probably the playground, but considering what happened today, that's not a bad thing," said Brenda._

Once again, Invincible United sulk in defeat. Vince throws his paper down and stomps on it over and over again like an immature child. Dingaan was about to go back to United's locker room, until Shakes caught up with him.

"Hey, Dingaan. Nice game out there," said Shakes. "Or should I say... DingDong."

Something (metaphorically) hit Dingaan in the head.

"You're SupaStrikas10," Dingaan realized. "I thought that X-shaped formation looked familiar. Huh, nice."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Skarra snarled angrily, still sore from the loss. "You're both gaming geeks and you turned real life soccer into a video game. Bravo."

"Maybe you should play SL5000X, Skarra. You might learn something," Shakes teased.

Shakes and Dingaan laugh while Skarra growls in anger. To his annoyance, Dooma was laughing at him as well.

 **Poor Skarra. Lost the game and gets laughed.**

 **I always wondered how Dooma got less crazy and more sane in Season 5. In the El Matador action figure episode, he showed up with a box and told his teammates, "Hey, guys, cheer up" in a seemingly calm tone. Dooma's still crazy, sure, but he looks like fake-rehabilitated Dooma, except his rehab results were real when he was brought back as captain.**


	5. Winter Twister

**Time to deliver on another promise from the summary. Twisting Tiger learning Cuju. Enjoy.**

 **Enjoy... and please leave a review. Always appreciate it.**

Supa Strikas have back-to-back matches against one of the strongest teams in the Super League (physically and metaphorically), the mighty Iron Tank. The first one is at Strikaland, and the next takes place a week later at the Fortress Stadium.

The first game, however, was a frustratingly embarrassing one for Supa Strikas. They lost the game, 3-0.

 _"A 3-0 loss for the Men in Red," said Mack._

 _"I wish I can say it wasn't for lack of trying, but Supa Strikas spent the entire game at each other's throats," said Brenda._

 _"I've heard of in-team tension, but this is ridiculous," said Mack. "It's like watching toddlers throw tantrums out there."_

Shakes and El Matador kept on arguing about who gets to score all the goals, which resulted in several turnovers, missed/blocked shots, and bumping into each other for simultaneously going after high crosses. Klaus tried reasoning them, but they kept giving him the hand to shut him up.

Cool Joe was losing his cool because of Shakes and El Matador, and lost a bit of his composure, which resulted in missed crosses, accidentally running into Iron Tank's massive players, and ending up at dead ends.

North Shaw and Blok argued over who gets to guard who. Their constant bickering resulted in Iron Tank getting through them with ease. Big Bo had a few saves here and there, but in the end, Iron Tank got 3 goals. 2 by Thor and 1 by Uber.

Dancing Rasta tried his best to get his teammates to stop fighting amongst themselves, but their refusal to listen to their captain led to Rasta being literally stuck in the middle of all the commotion.

The only Strika who kept a cool head was Twisting Tiger. It was losing to Iron Tank that made him loose his temper. He did his best to keep Iron Tank at bay, but without support from his teammates, the game ended in a deadlock.

The tension continued in the locker room, unfortunately.

"If Shakes just passed the ball to me, I could've scored a hundred goals by full time," said El Matador.

"Dude, haven't you learned anything about being a ball hog?" Shakes criticized. "Or do we have to go to Solinesia again?"

"No! Anything but Solinesia. Send me to a cold freezing wasteland, but please not Solinesia," El Matador begged as he got on his knees.

"It's Blok's fault," North blamed. "I waned to guard Uber, not Ja Nein."

"Brigga Bragola Rigo!" Blok shouted.

"I don't know what you're saying, but I know it's nothing nice," North said angrily.

"Well, don't look at me. I'm just the guy making all the crosses, but these two chumps would rather compete against each other instead of Iron Tank," said Cool Joe, referring to the team's two strikers.

"I had to do everything myself out there," Big Bo butted in. Sarcastically, he adds, "I'm surprised we didn't lose 6-0 instead."

"Our priority is the game, not our egos," said Dancing Rasta. "We're a team, remember?"

"Yeah, a team that doesn't know how to give the ball to me," El Matador said stubbornly.

"I did give the ball to you. Many times," said Klaus.

"All because you're still hung up about about getting voted off Living the El Life," said Cool Joe.

"Not true," Klaus denied.

"They censor your face and disguise your voice just so you can't be recognized," Cool Joe reminded.

Coach was losing it. If all this fighting keeps going, he's gonna explode (hopefully not in the literal sense). Just as he was about to shout, someone else did it for him.

"That's enough, all of you!" It was Twisting Tiger.

Everyone stopped. They've never seen Tiger this angry since that one time years ago when El Matador accidentally threw his lucky charm into the ocean.

"Look at yourselves. You're acting like children," said Tiger. "This is not the Supa Strikas team I know."

"Then El Matador better practice his passing for the next game," said Shakes.

"Maybe you should practice your shooting, Shakes, 'cause you looked bad out there," El Matador insulted.

"Hey, at least I gave The Mangler some challenge. You kept aiming directly at him," said Shakes.

And the bickering continued. Everyone was talking/shouting at the exact same time. Unable to further tolerate all of this arguing, Tiger grabs his bag and storms out of the room.

"Where are you going, Tiger?" asked Coach.

"Overseas training," Tiger answered. "I'll be back in time for the rematch."

"Care to at least tell me where you're heading off to?" asked Coach.

* * *

 _The next day..._

China. That's where Twisting Tiger is. More specifically, right underneath the History of Football Museum. There he met Shing, the tour guide who taught Shakes the art of Cuju, an ancient Chinese soccer technique. Since it worked so well against Iron Tank last time, Tiger thought maybe he can use it to his advantage as well. Shing brought him to the Yellow Emperor's Training Arena. Before they got started with the training, Shing wanted to know what happened with Supa Strikas during their previous game against Iron Tank, curious as to why they lost so embarrassingly.

Tiger told her everything.

"Yikes," Shing reacted.

"It's even worse in person," said Tiger.

"Why didn't you just score the goals yourself?" Shing asked. "I mean, I know football is a team sport, but you were clearly the only one with your head in the game. And with that twisting move of yours, no one can stop you."

"I guess I was just hoping my teammates would snap out of it sooner or later," said Tiger. "I was wrong."

"It sounds like this isn't the first time this has happened," Shing guessed.

"Supa Strikas have had disagreements in the past, but we always pull through," said Tiger. "This time, it's different. It's the whole team against each other."

"Well, what better way to knock some sense into them than with a little Cuju?" Shing said.

And so, training began. It started simple with Shing daring Tiger to steal the ball from her. Tiger is impressed by her skill and agility as she evades his every tackle and jumps in very stylish ways. Tiger finally manageed to swipe the ball from her with a low sweep kick, but then she started attacking him with Kung Fu moves. Having been trained in martial arts in Japan, Tiger had little to no problem dodging her.

Shing goes for a spinning low kick, but Tiger jumps over her with the ball secured on top of his foot.

Shing throws fast punches and kicks, but Tiger dodges all of them as he performs some tricks with the ball, such as an upside-down balancing act or leaning back with the ball on his forehead. Shing kicks high, but Tiger goes low. With one hand planted on the ground, Tiger kicks the ball up and over Shing.

Shing jumps high and descends upon him, preparing for another kick, but Tiger twists to the left to dodge her.

Shing goes for a slide tackle, but Tiger leaps in the air and does a bit of twisting while in the air.

"Whoa," Shing said, wowed. "Are you sure you need me to train you?"

"Fast learner, I guess," said Tiger. "You're quite impressive yourself. I can see why your teachings really helped Shakes against Iron Tank."

"Say, would you mind taking me with you to the Fortress Stadium?" asked Shing. "I'd like to see you use these Cuju moves for real."

"No problem," said Tiger.

"But there's only like five days until the rematch," said Shing. "Take the time and explore China. I'll stick by your side the whole time."

"Don't you have a job to take care of?" asked Tiger.

"Well, I am a tour guide, so I'll give you a tour of the rest of China," said Shing.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Iron Tank submarine, Thor (whose mustache has only partially grown back) and Von Eye were looking for their captain, Uber. He's in the other room, listening to music on his headphones, which are connected to an iPod. Uber seems to be liking what he was listening to. Thor sneaks up on him and swipes his headphones, which captures Uber's attention.

"Hey!" Uber shouted.

Thor puts the headphones next to his ears to know what Uber was listening to. It was Cool Joe's song, "Funky Gold Re Diva" **(A/N: I'm referencing Cool Joe's song from "Cool Joe Loses His Groove, Part 2," but I can't make out the title no matter how hard I listen)**.

"Uber is listening to Cool Joe's song," said Thor.

Von Eye started giggling.

"Hey, give that back!" Uber ordered.

Thor and Von Eye play keep-away with the iPod while laughing at their captain. Iron Tank may look like big, strong soccer players, but behind the scenes, they can be like children.

"Vait 'til we tell Colonel Von Pushup," said Thor.

"No. No, please. Don't," Uber pleaded.

Thor and Von Eye think about. They smile sly smiles at each other.

"Okay, ve von't tell him," said Von Eye. "On one condition."

"Ve get to play video games on the state-of-the-art tracking screen vwenever ve vant," said Thor.

Uber grunts and says, "Fine!"

Thor returns the iPod and headphones to Uber.

"Vy are you even listening to that?" asked Von Eye.

"It's catchy," Uber admitted. "You two know nothing about music."

 _"UBER! THOR! VON EYE!" Colonel Von Pushup shouted through the loud speaker. "To the bridge, now!"_

"I really hate ze loud speaker," Uber grunted.

 _"UBER!" Von Pushup shouted again._

* * *

Back in China, Shing asked Twisting Tiger to teach her the upside down twist. To do that, Tiger had to teach her Capoeira. They started with the ginga. Tiger taught her about patience and the counter attack, which then turned into a brief sparring match. It ended up with the two of them tripping themselves. Shing fell on top of Tiger. Now they feel awkward looking at each other because of the extreme closeness.

"Uh, nice job," Tiger said awkwardly.

"Well, you are very fast on your feet," Shing said awkwardly.

Next, they move on to basic hand-stand exercises. From walking up a steep road up-side down to balancing two bottles on her shoes while up-side down, Shing was learning as fast as Tiger learning Cuju.

After hours of training, it was time to see if Shing can do the twist. First, Tiger demonstrates by doing the upside-down twist himself.

"So cool," Shing said, wowed.

Tiger stops and then lets Shing take the floor. She takes a deep breath as she stands on her two hands. She started spinning and spinning and then... she did it! The upside-down twist.

"Woohoo!" Shing cheered.

Shing stops twisting and gets up, only to feel a little dizzy from all the twisting. She was about to fall, but Tiger catches her. When they looked at each other, cue more awkwardness, coupled with some blushing.

"Uh, so how did I do?" asked Shing.

"Quite, uh, quite impressive," Tiger complimented.

The two step away from each other and look away in embarrassment.

"So, more Cuju tomorrow?" asked Shing.

"The more, the better," Tiger agreed.

* * *

A few days later, it was time for the rematch between Supa Strikas and Iron Tank. Iron Tank won 3-0 last week at Strikaland, and now these military-trained brutes seek to make it two in a row in their home ground, the Fortress Stadium. Given how Supa Strikas played in the last game, nearly everyone is expecting Iron Tank to win the double.

 _"Match day here at the Fortress Stadium. The Iron Tank fans are louder than ever and for good reason," said Brenda._

 _"Unless Supa Strikas direct their fighting energy towards the Tank instead of each other, it's three more points for the home team," said Mack._

 _"Twisting Tiger was the only Supa Strika who gave it his all in the last game, but without the rest of his team, how can Tiger carry his team on his own?" Brenda wondered._

 _"If you ask me, he should be leading the charge today," said Mack._

There he was. Twisting Tiger. All alone on the pitch while the rest of the teams are still in their respective locker rooms. Looking at the audience, he found the one person he brought along. Shing. She waved at him and cheered for him. She even wore a Twisting Tiger jersey to show her support.

Iron Tank and the rest of Supa Strikas arrive. Tiger, however, refused to look and talk to his teammates.

The ref blows the whistle and the game is on. Iron Tank have the ball first and Uber's marshaling is helping Iron Tank make it to Supa Strikas' defense fast. Ja Nein uses some fancy dribbling to get past North Shaw and then passes to Thor. Thor evades Blok and takes his shot, aiming for the high left side. Fortunately for Supa Strikas, Big Bo punches the ball away.

 _"Despite that impressive save by Big Bo, Iron Tank have just shown why they're the favorites," said Brenda._

 _"And it looks like Blok and North are at it again," said Mack._

Mack was right. North and Blok are arguing again over their defensive formation.

"Dude, I was supposed to guard Thor," said North. "I thought we talked about this."

"Zurga ragga zarka!" Blok shouted.

"Oh, so you blame me, huh?" North accused. "You let Thor get through."

With Blok and North busy arguing, Iron Tank penetrate the defense easily once again. Von Eye shoots low towards the lower-left corner. Big Bo dives after the ball, but Ja Nein slide-tackles it away from the keeper. Thor has an unguarded goal right in front of him. He was about to kick the ball... until a red blur came out of nowhere and stole the ball from him. It was Twisting Tiger.

 _"Wow! Twisting Tiger is making Iron Tank eat his dust," said Brenda, wowed._

 _"More like snow dust, Brenda," said Mack._

Tiger zigzags through the midfield before passing to Cool Joe. Cool Joe sees Shakes and El Matador both begging for the ball. El Matador manages to find some room, so Cool Joe has no choice but to cross to the egotistical striker. El Matador jumps and shoots with the header. The ball was about to go through The Mangler's legs, but The Mangler catches it with his two hands. Cue The Mangler's signature evil laugh.

Uber takes the ball up the field. North and Blok try to push each other way, both wanting to take on the Iron Tank captain. Blok pushes North down and charges at Uber. Uber passes the ball to Ja Nein as he runs past Blok. Ja Nein kicks the ball high. Big Bo and Uber both jump after the cross. Uber headers the ball and...

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Iron Tank are now on the scoreboard," said Brenda._

 _"What are Blok and North fighting about?" Mack wondered. "If they keep yelling at each other instead of playing defense, this is going to be a landslide, not like it isn't already at the moment."_

Cool Joe crosses the ball to Shakes, but El Matador intercepts the pass and shoots. The Manger dives right, but the ball hit the post. Shakes glares at El Matador, who just shrugs his shoulders.

Dancing Rasta steals the ball from Von Eye, but then Uber tackles him, causing Rasta to fall down. No whistle, unfortunately.

North and Blok are once again too busy yelling at each other to focus on the defense. This gives Iron Tank another chance to attack.

"Brag raza rug!" Blok shouted.

"No, I want Uber!" North shouted.

"North! Blok!" Big Bo called.

Too late. Uber, Thor, Von Eye, and Ja Nein have broken through again. Uber passes to Thor, who takes another shot. Big Bo dives left, but the ball curves the other way. Fortunately, he reacted fast enough to kick the ball away Strikas' goal. Blok headers to the midfield.

Shakes gets possession of the ball. El Matador calls for the ball, but Shakes refuses to pass. Shakes takes his shot, but at the same time, Uber slide-tackles him in the leg. The Mangler punches the ball away as Shakes falls down with a slightly injured knee.

This time, Uber gets a yellow card.

"Shakes, I was open," said El Matador.

"Like I was open several times in our last match, but you didn't pass to me," Shakes retorted.

"That's enough, both of you," said Dancing Rasta.

"No, captain. This needs to be settled," said Cool Joe. "I can't keep passing the ball to these two if they're gonna keep fighting over it."

"Uh, you do know I'm also right there, right?" Klaus pointed out, feeling like his teammates have forgotten about him.

With Shakes, El Matador, Klaus, Cool Joe, and Dancing Rasta too busy arguing at center field, Iron Tank get the ball right pass them. Supa Strikas try to get back on defense, but they were too late. Worse, Twisting Tiger is beginning to lose his temper again.

 _"It seems that Supa Strikas haven't learned much since their last match," said Brenda._

 _"Iron Tank are just running past them like bystanders on the street," said Mack._

 _"Here comes Johann Uber looking for another goal," said Brenda._

Uber easily gets past Blok and kicks the ball as hard as he can. Big Bo dives right, but it looks like he's too late. Fortunately, Twisting Tiger twists out of nowhere and kicks the ball away. Using his incredible speed, Tiger runs after the ball. It was heading straight for an Iron Tank midfielder, but Tiger makes it in time to get possession of the ball.

 _"What defense by Twisting Tiger," said Brenda._

 _"And it looks like he's planning on taking the entire Iron Tank by himself," said Mack. "Is he crazy?"_

 _"You did say he should be leading the charge for Supa Strikas today, Mack," Brenda reminded._

After stealing a glance at Shing, who gives him a look that says, _I believe in you_ , Tiger decides that it was time to use what he learned from her. Cuju. Two Iron Tank defenders charge at him, but Twisting Tiger heel-kicks the ball up high as gracefully jump-twists right through in between the defenders. Both Strikas fans and Iron Tank fans watch in awe, including the players on the pitch.

 _"Whoa-ho! What a move," said Brenda._

 _"Looks kinda familiar, Brenda," said Mack._

Uber was about to use a charging elbow strike, but Tiger dodges him with by jumping over him while performance a graceful barrel roll in mid-air. Uber looks dumbfounded, even though these moves look familiar to him.

 _"Twisting Tiger has both his teammates' heads and Iron Tank's heads spinning... or twisting," said Mack._

Only one man to beat. The Mangler. Twisting Tiger resorts to one of his old-fashioned moves. The Twisting Tiger. The Mangler stands there, mouth agape. Twisting Tiger steers left and right as he twists, trying to keep Iron Tank's keeper guessing. The Mangler doesn't know which way to dive or if he should go right at Tiger.

 _"Uh-oh. The Mangler can't see where the ball is," said Brenda._

Twisting Tiger keeps twisting and steering, until he finally takes his shot. He shoots towards the left corner; The Mangler dives the wrong way.

 _"And with that shot, the scores are tied at 1 at halftime," said Brenda._

 _"Twisting Tiger is more than just in top form today. He's a soccer machine," said Mack. "Too bad the rest of his teammates aren't in the same form."_

 _"Either Twisting Tiger takes care of business in the second half by himself or Iron Tank will bulldoze their way to another victory," said Brenda._

* * *

At Supa Strikas' locker room...

"This is your fault, Shakes," El Matador blamed. "We could've been up 3-1 if you haven't been so selfish."

"I'm selfish? You stole the pass from Cool Joe that was meant for me," Shakes retorted.

"You guys do know I'm there on the floor, right?" Klaus butted in.

"No one cares if you score the goals, Klaus," said El Matador.

"It's not like the defense is doing any better," said Big Bo. "North, you and Blok really need to stop arguing about who guards who. Just pick a man and play defense."

"Hey, it's because of Blok being choosy that we keep crumbling on defense," North accused.

Frustrated with his fellow defender, Blok shoulder-bumps him off the bench. North growls and glares at Blok afterwards.

"Not cool, North," said Cool Joe.

"We're getting nowhere with all this bickering," said Dancing Rasta. "We need to come up with a new strategy for the second half."

"Yeah, and that is give the ball to me," said El Matador.

"Enough!" Tiger shouted.

Once again, everyone shuts up when Tiger tells them to.

"Don't you guys see how you're behaving?" Tiger questioned. "This is the Super League, not an experimental match for the Youth Football Program. We're supposed to be helping each other out there, not competing against each other. I joined Supa Strikas because I believed I could find a new beginning here. I believed that this was the team I was meant to play for. These past four years have been the best of both my career and my life. But now, I see it was all for nothing."

"Dude, you're not... you're not thinking of leaving are you?" asked Shakes.

"Unless you guys finally decide to stop thinking of yourselves and play like a team, this is going to be my final game as a Supa Strika," said Tiger.

Tiger leaves to the locker room to return to the pitch, leaving his teammates to think about his outburst. The glares stopped. Sympathetic and empathetic looks were exchanged. Coach was starting to calm down. If Tiger hadn't interfered, Coach would've exploded.

"You know Tiger is right, guys," said Dancing Nasta.

El Matador groans and reluctantly says, "Ah, I know!"

"What have we done?" North wondered regretfully. "We're about to lose a member of our team."

"That's not gonna happen. We're gonna go out there and we're gonna beat Iron Tank," Shakes said determinedly.

"So, Coach, what's the game plan?" asked Cool Joe.

"Two things," said Coach, holding up two fingers. "One, play as a team."

"And the other?" asked Cool Joe.

"Give Tiger the ball," said Coach.

"And let him have all the glory of scoring the goals?" El Matador complained.

"EL MATADOR!" The entire team scolded him.

"Okay, okay, give Tiger the ball. I get it," El Matador gave in. "Can I at least do something flashy for the fans?"

* * *

Supa Strikas and Iron Tank come out of their locker rooms in time for the second half. Tiger was already there, just doing some basic upside down soccer tricks, all the while making sure Shing is watching. She smiled and even laughed a little at him. Tiger just smiled back and showed off a little. When he saw the rest of the players returning to the pitch, he stands up on his two feet.

"Tiger mon," Rasta called.

Rasta takes off his captain's armband and gives it to Tiger.

"Are you serious?" asked Tiger, surprised.

"You deserve it, mon," said Rasta. "Whatever you need of us, we'll follow you."

Tiger looks at his teammates. They all looked determined to play some real football and win this game.

Tiger smiles and says, "Supa Strikas on 3."

The Men in Red put their hands on top of one another.

"One... two... three... SUPA STRIKAS!"

The second half is underway and Iron Tank once again have possession of the ball. Uber brutally flattens Klaus, but the ref doesn't do a thing about it. Klaus just lies there trying to recover from the pain.

 _"An interesting yet confusing turn of events here in the second half. Twisting Tiger is now wearing the captain's armband," said Brenda._

 _"Doesn't surprise me, Brenda. Twisting Tiger is the only one who's been keeping a clear head these past couple of games," said Mack._

 _"Will Twisting Tiger's leadership make a difference?" Brenda wondered._

As Twisting Tiger chases Uber, he looks directly at Blok and North Shaw. He gives them a hand signal: colliding fists. North and Blok nod, understanding the signal. Uber passes the ball to Von Eye. Suddenly, North and Blok tackle the ball at the same time, pinning between their shoes, tripping Von Eye. Tiger signals the strikers and midfielders to follow him to the other side. North kicks the ball to Tiger, who leads the assault.

 _"Excellent defense by North and Blok," said Brenda. "And now Supa Strikas are on the attack."_

 _"Led by Twisting Tiger," Mack added._

In the midfield, Tiger gives his two fellow midfielders a hand signal: a slashing sword. Dancing Rasta swiftly evades an Iron Tank midfielder and passes the ball through two Iron Tank defenders. Twisting Tiger gets the ball, twists past Ja Nein, and then sends the ball straight to Cool Joe. Cool Joe and El Matador switch places as Cool Joe kicks the ball through a defender's legs. El Matador crosses the ball to Shakes. Shakes takes his shot, but it hits the bar.

Despite coming up empty in this possession, Coach looks happy. Supa Strikas are finally playing like a team once again, which is exactly what their coach wanted to see.

 _"Supa Strikas' magnificent teamwork may not have resulted in a goal, but Supa Strikas' coach looks quite pleased," said Brenda._

 _"Key word being teamwork, Brenda. That's why," Mack knew._

Twisting Tiger gets pass an Iron Tank midfielder by dribbling the ball through his legs as he twists to the right. After regaining possession of the ball, Tiger looks at Shakes and gives him a hand signal: tracing the shape of a lightning bolt. Tiger passes the ball to Shakes. Shakes finds Klaus, who kicks a short pass back to Shakes. Shakes kicks the ball through Thor's legs.

Twisting Tiger gets the ball back as he stands on his two hands. After performing some upside down tricks that wowed everyone in the arena, Tiger dribbles the ball up, jumps high, and twists fluidly in the air before kicking the ball towards the goal. The Mangler dives too low and the ball hits the high right side of the net.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"With less than thirty minutes left in the match, Supa Strikas lead 2 to 1," said Brenda. "Can Twisting Tiger continue his team's hot streak?"_

 _"I have no doubt, Brenda," said Mack._

Now, Supa Strikas have to defend their lead. Tiger gives Blok, North, and Klaus (who now joins the defensive duo) another signal: the pencil sharpener. Blok, North, and Klaus spread out, covering the three areas of the box. Blok pressures Uber. Uber passes to Thor. North slides towards Thor for a tackle. Thor jumps over the tackle and then shoots. Big Bo doesn't jump far enough, but Klaus disrupts the shot with a header.

Ja Nein gets the rebound, but Blok tackles the ball from him and kicks it all the way to Twisting Tiger.

Once again, the agile midfielder uses what he learned from Shing. An Iron Tank defender tries to slide-tackle him, but Tiger jumps over the tackle with a graceful mid-air spin. An Iron Tank midfielder tries tackling him from behind, but Tiger takes himself and the ball high with a smooth back-flip. After a graceful landing, he zooms his way towards the box. Uber, Thor, and Von Eye come at Twisting Tiger from three different directions. Twisting Tiger heel-kicks the ball in the air and jumps, surprising the three Iron Tank stars. Tiger finishes the jump with a 720-degree twist and kicking it towards El Matador.

"Hey, Iron Tank jerks. Check this out," El Matador taunted.

El Matador taps the ball into the air as he twirls pass an Iron Tank midfielder, and then stylishly jumps over a defender's tackle. He finishes the "flashy" move with a no-look heel kick to Twisting Tiger. The crowd cheers for El Matador, and he suddenly feels satisfied with being selfless.

With Shakes luring the remaining defense away from the box, it was just Twisting Tiger versus The Mangler. Tiger gets down on two hands and unleashes his new signature move, the Upside Down Twister. He was twisting so fast that he was starting to blow snow at the faces of his teammates, and Uber as well.

 _"Unbelievable! Twisting Tiger is twisting so fast... you might as well call this the Snow Twister," said Brenda._

 _"Or Winter Twister, Brenda," said Mack._

The Mangler grows more nervous as Tiger twists faster and faster and faster. Soon enough, Twisting Tiger shoots. The charge from the twist made him kick the ball so fast, The Mangler stood frozen as the ball zoomed past his head.

The ball flew into the goal and, to the shock of The Mangler and everyone in the arena, burned right through the net.

 _"What an unbelievable performance from Twisting Tiger," Brenda said in awe. "He helped Supa Strikas climb out of the Pit of Despair and to the top of the Victory Mountain."_

 _"Someone should change the net. That last shot actually burned a hole through it," Mack said, laughing in-between words._

Supa Strikas mob Twisting Tiger and cheer for him. They stopped and turned around as soon as they heard the crowd chant the name of the clear hero today.

"TWISTING TIGER! TWISTING TIGER! TWISTING TIGER!"

"Well done, Tiger mon," said Rasta. "You won this game."

" _We_ won this game," Tiger corrected him.

"So, are you still planning on leaving?" Shakes asked. "'Cause it's clear we'd be lost without you."

"Well, I am beginning to think about staying," Tiger said cryptically.

Tiger gives Rasta back his captain's armband as he walks towards a certain someone in the audience. Shing jumps down to the field and rushes towards Tiger, giving him a big hug.

"You were amazing out there," said Shing.

"I couldn't have done it without you," said Tiger.

"Hey, I just taught you Cuju. You were the one who helped your teammates play like a real team again," said Shing.

Shing kisses Tiger on the cheek. Tiger was a little embarrassed, but he didn't avoid eye contact. His teammates, meanwhile, watched from the distance.

"Whoa, Tiger just got the 3Gs," said El Matador.

"3Gs?" asked Shakes.

"The goals, the glory, and the girl," said El Matador. "Must be the lucky charm. I gotta get me one of those."

Supa Strikas just laugh at El Matador, who is confused as to why he was being laughed at.

 **Boy, that was fun. Don't you think?**


	6. All-Stars

**Supa Strikas vs. All-Stars, Part 2.**

 **Enjoy.**

It was that time once again. Supa Strikas versus 11 of the (other) best players in the Super League. Being the Super League champs for four years in a row and beating the All-Stars before, no one is counting Supa Strikas out right away. This time, there is no piece of property or prize to fight for. This time, it's purely for the fans' entertainment. A real competition is to be expected, but it's all in the name of soccer.

The All-Stars Team:

 _Forwards_ \- Skarra, Riano, Don Aldo

 _Midfielders_ \- Dooma (captain), Miko Chen, Meda, Liquido

 _Defenders_ \- Uber, Ninja, Bolo

 _Goalkeeper_ \- De Los Santos

Strikaland's crowd is full on the day of the big match. Supa Strikas vs. All-Stars. When the teams came out of the tunnel, the crowd cheered louder than ever before. Skarra glared at Shakes, who glared back. Twisting Tiger and Miko Chen bowed to each other. North Shaw and Liquido made angry eyes at each other.

"Don't let Skarra dim your spirits, Shakes," said Riano. "He's still sore about the community center."

"Yeah, well, he's gonna be sore about this one when it's all over," said Shakes.

"I'm not gonna make it easy for you out there," said Riano. "This may be for the fans, but it's a battle of the best."

"I wouldn't expect anything less, dude," said Shakes.

After Riano walked away, it's Skarra's time to talk to Supa Strikas' star striker. Shakes pretended to smile while Skarra just glared at him. The juxtaposition is quite obvious. Shakes and Riano are a great example of a friendly rivalry. Shakes and Skarra are the poster children for a hate-fueled rivalry.

"Good luck out there," said Shakes. "Just too bad you're not the captain anymore."

"Yeah, yeah, Dooma's the man. Blah, blah, blah," Skarra replied with hostility. "But I'm not going easy on you. Remember that."

"I wouldn't expect anything less, Skarra," said Shakes.

Shakes and Skarra both return to their respective teams. Shakes mocks Skarra with a smile while Skarra just looks away and grits his teeth angrily.

"Be careful, brother. You don't want an injury on an event like this," said Cool Joe.

"Hey, it's all just fun and games," said Shakes. "Well, until it doesn't have to be."

"Just play your best, have fun, and give the fans what they came for," said Rasta.

"Way ahead of you, captain," said El Matador.

* * *

The Ref blows the whistle.

 _"Game on," Brenda started. "The attendance shows a maximum 80,000 as Supa Strikas take on the All-Stars once again."_

 _"At least there's no community center or shopping mall to fight over. It's all soccer this time, Brenda," said Mack._

Dooma leads the charge to start the game. He works the ball pass Dancing Rasta and sends it Don Aldo's way. Don Aldo heads towards Supa Strikas' box. Don Aldo jumps over North Shaw's tackle, but Blok steals the ball from the Palmentieri star. Blok stumbles a little bit dribbling the ball to his left, but manages to kick it all the way to the midfield.

Dancing Rasta leads the midfield assault for Supa Strikas. Dooma was about to slide-tackle him, but Rasta jumps to avoid him. He passes the ball to Cool Joe, but Uber and Meda are in his way. Cool Joe kicks the ball to the right wing to Twisting Tiger.

Liquido zooms out of nowhere and intercepts the ball. Tiger chases Liquido with his own lightning speed, but Liquido sneakily trips Twisting Tiger as he zooms pass the midfield.

 _"Liquido has the speed advantage on Tiger, so that sly move was pretty unnecessary if you ask me," Brenda commented._

Liquido passes the ball to Don Aldo. North and Blok rush towards him. Don Aldo evades North Shaw with a self-pass heel kick, and then immediately dodges Block with a quick right-to-left dribble.

 _"The Samba King has Blok and North looking like amateurs on defense," said Mack._

Klaus dodges Bolo's slide tackle, but before he could take a shot, Uber charges at him and brutally trips him for the steal. Klaus falls on his face as the All-Stars get the ball back.

 _"What is with Uber targeting Klaus every time they face off?" Brenda wondered._

The ball is up in the air. Shakes and Riano are the closest to it. They both jump after it. Riano wins and headers the ball to an All-Stars teammate. Shakes ends up falling on his face. Being the friendly rival that he is, Riano helps Shakes back up.

 _"It's surprising that Riano is the only Barka player who overcame his weakness to the high ball," said Mack._

Skarra now has the ball. He dribbles left and right past Klaus and El Matador. Shakes steals the ball from Skarra with a smooth slide tackle, but Skarra counters with an intentional foul tackle.

 _"Ooh! Dirty tackle by Skarra," said Brenda. "Even without a community center to fight for, he's not making it easy on Shakes."_

El Matador dribbles the ball through Meda's legs as he works his way towards the box. El Matador shoots eagerly, but De Los Santos catches the ball... without even moving.

 _"Uh, has El Matador forgotten how giant De Los Santos is?" Mack asked, wondering why Strikas' #20 went for a simple shot._

Dancing Rasta runs towards Dooma, who has possession of the ball. Dooma rolls the ball away and swiftly dashes pass the charging Rasta. Dooma catches the ball with his foot and smoothly moves it away from the incoming Cool Joe.

Dooma passes the ball to Skarra, who was being pursued closely by Shakes. When fancy dribbling couldn't help him get pass Shakes, Skarra opts for running at him and pushing him out of his way. Shakes lands on his backside as Skarra heads for Supa Strikas' defense.

 _"All-Stars on the attack once again," said Brenda._

Miko Chen agilely side-steps pass Klaus and quickly spins pass North Shaw on his way to the box. On Dooma's instruction, Miko passes the ball high to Meda on the right wing. Meda uses his aerial skills to outjump Cool Joe and kicks the ball to Skarra. Skarra pulls a spin move on Shakes and then passes low to Miko Chen, who had Blok and El Matador blocking him from getting to Big Bo.

Miko Chen scoops the ball on his foot, and kicks it up as he performs a ninja-like 360-spin in mid air, finishing the move with a martial-arts-style kick, shooting the ball pass Blok and El Matador. Big Bo dives to the upper-left corner, but the ball zooms into the net.

All-Stars now lead 1-0.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!" Brenda cheered. "Unbelievable delivery from Miko Chen."_

 _"Just like last time, the All-Stars are having no trouble early against Supa Strikas. Makes you wonder if the Men in Red can come out of nowhere and bounce back like last time," said Mack._

Shakes shoots the ball towards the upper-left corner, but De Los Santos blocks the shot with his fist.

El Matador shoots the ball towards the lower-left corner, but De Los Santos dives effortlessly to catch the ball.

Klaus receives the pass from Shakes and shoots towards the far right side, but De Los Santos smacks the ball away.

 _"Supa Strikas are performing rather poorly, offensively and defensively," said Brenda. "And now, All-Stars get the ball back. Can they capitalize on their humongous keeper's effort?"_

Dancing Rasta and Cool Joe attempt to double-team Ninja, but Ninja just jumps up, through, and between them. Twisting Tiger intercepts Ninja's pass and starts twisting pass Liquido. Unfortunately, Miko Chen times Twisting Tiger's stop perfectly and tackles the ball away from him. Tiger manages to land on his feet, but is frustrated that he lost the ball to his former teammate.

Dooma avoids Klaus with a swift dribble move and passes the ball to Skarra. Skarra and Dooma play give-and-go to get pass Shakes. Skarra and Dooma close in on Supa Strikas' box just as El Matador comes at them. Skarra easily dodges El Matador's slide tackle and then passes the ball far to Dooma.

Dooma eludes Blok with some sweet and fast dribbling and dodges North Shaw with a 360 spin, followed by a quick pass to Skarra. Skarra takes his shot, a powerful one at that. Big Bo dives left, but the ball hits the side of the net.

All-Stars lead 2-0.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Skarra makes it two-nil to the All-Stars," said Brenda. "Will he finally get his revenge on Shakes and Supa Strikas?"_

 _"Unless Supa Strikas supercharge their batteries, it's certain, Brenda," said Mack._

* * *

In the All-Stars' locker room, the All-Stars are hi-fiving and congratulating each other on an impressive first half. With a 2-0 lead over Supa Strikas, they were more than confident that they're finally gonna get payback for last time.

"Well done, everyone," said Dooma. "Especially you, De Los Santos."

"Well, he did win the Best Goalie Award in every year he's played," said Meda.

"Supa Strikas have no chance this time," said Don Aldo. "We are too good for them to handle."

"Don't be so sure, Don Aldo. Supa Strikas beat us last time for a reason," said Riano.

"Well, there's no way that's happening this time," Ninja said arrogantly.

"Yeah. No way," Bolo said, being the stupid big guy he is.

"As long as you got me in goal, they won't even score," De Los Santos said confidently.

"Do not underestimate Supa Strikas, De Los Santos. They've bested all of us these past few years and won four Super League titles because of it," Miko Chen reminded.

"You give them too much credit," said Skarra. "With our combined skills, we'll crush them. Even if they get past one of us, another one of us will just pick up the slack."

"Don't let your grudge affect your confidence, Skarra. We still got 45 minutes. Anything can happen in 45 minutes," said Dooma.

"And Supa Strikas are no stranger to making last-minute comebacks," said Meda.

"Then we play like we've never played before," said Uber. "We take them down physically and then we take them down in the scoring game."

"Just keep that aggressiveness in control, Uber. Remember, this is a friendly," said Dooma.

"Perhaps, but it's so much fun humiliating them," said Liquido. "I can't wait to make North and Tiger eat my dust in front of the cameras."

 **~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ SUPA STRIKAS ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~**

In Supa Strikas' locker room, they were all feeling a little tired. Keeping up with the All-Stars is hard enough, but for it to be tiring after 45 minutes, they fear how they'll do in the second half. There may be no community center to fight over, but they still want to win and prove why they're the four-time defending champions of the Super League.

Klaus iced his shoulders and ankles, feeling banged up from Uber's brutality.

"I don't know if I can keep this up for another half. I ache all over," said Klaus.

"We can't give up, Klaus mon. It is only the beginning," said Rasta.

"We beat these guys last time. Why is it way harder now?" North complained.

"Our first victory against the All-Stars fed our confidence, and that confidence turned into arrogance. That is why we're losing," said Twisting Tiger.

"That De Los Santos... no matter how many times we score against him, he's a moving brick wall covering the entire goal," said El Matador.

"I can't even protect our goal from these guys. They're the greatest in the Super League," said Big Bo.

"We're down 2-0, boys. Don't let that stop you from giving it all you got," said Coach.

"I can't even smoove it out there, Coach. They're flying all over us, literally even," Cool Joe complained.

"You heard Rasta. We can't give up," said Shakes. "Maybe we're being overconfident because we beat these guys last time, but confidence is still confidence. And confidence motivates us to win."

"Remember how we beat these guys in the past. Remember all we've learned," said Rasta. "Use them and we will have the advantage."

"It worked last time. It'll work again," Shakes said hopefully.

"Whether we win or lose, always remember. We're a team. The stronger our teamwork is, the stronger our trust in each other, the stronger we are as one," said Tiger.

"Is this about the Iron Tank double header?" El Matador guessed. "We're trying to be more selfless, okay. You don't have to bring up the leaving-the-team threat again."

"Prove to me on the field that we're a team and I'll make my final decision," said Tiger.

"Supa Strikas on 3!" Rasta exclaimed.

All hands on top of each other's.

"One... two... three... SUPA STRIKAS!"

* * *

Time for the second half. The score is still 2-0 in favor of the All-Stars.

Cool Joe chases Meda down the midfield. Meda kicks the ball high, jumps high, and headers it towards Miko Chen. Miko Chen dribbles the ball over Dancing Rasta as he zooms right pass him, leaving the Supa Strikas captain baffled.

Shakes manages to tackle the ball away from Skarra, but Riano shows up out of nowhere to steal it from him. El Matador tries to get in Riano's way, but Riano simply side-steps past him, leaving El Matador panicking.

 _"Ninety seconds into the second half and Supa Strikas still look as helpless as they did in the first half," said Mack._

 _"Don't count them out just yet, Mack. The Men in Red are the masters of comebacks after all," said Brenda._

Don Aldo decides it's his turn to score a goal. But first, he has to get pass Supa Strikas' defense duo, Blok and North Shaw. The two look back into their past to find a way to stop Don Aldo from embarrassing them again.

 **North and Blok's flashback:**  
 _Training with Shakes and Klaus in an ancient stadium within a jungle somewhere in Rio_

Blok gets in Don Aldo's way. Don Aldo nutmegs Blok with ease and smoothly gets past him. Fortunately, North slide-tackles quickly to steal the ball before Don Aldo could regain possession, leaving the Samba King aimlessly stumbling forward. North sends the ball Dancing Rasta's way.

Rasta is about to lead the midfield attack when he saw Ninja heading his way. Rasta thinks back to their first encounter from years ago.

 **Dancing Rasta's flashback:**  
 _Dancing Rasta tackles the ball away from Ninja, but Ninja counters by deliberately injuring his knee with a dirty slide tackle_

Dancing Rasta starts performing some sweet moves with the ball, as if he was dancing, living up to his name. Ninja can't tackle the ball away from Rasta with him moving it around left and right in dance-like fashion. Dancing Rasta ends his dance with a heel kick pass to Twisting Tiger.

Twisting Tiger has his eyes on the ball, which is flying high and heading his direction. Unfortunately, Liquido is racing Tiger to the ball. Liquido is fast, but Tiger is faster.

 **Twisting Tiger's flasback:**  
 _Testing his speed against Liquido in a one-on-one underwater soccer match_

Twisting Tiger outspeeds Liquido to the ball, but he doesn't stop there. He decides to show Liqudio how fast he really is. He starts running circles around Liquido, literally. It's the Tiger Storm! Liquido starts to feel dizzy just watching Twisting Tiger run around him at, like, 40 miles an hour. Tiger keeps running and running in circles until Liquido passes out from the dizziness. Tiger advances and kicks the ball to Cool Joe at the left wing.

Cool Joe has Shakes in his sights, but Meda is marking the young striker. Cool Joe has to find a way to get the ball pass Meda and to Shakes. A high ball is too risky, so he has to come up with something else.

 **Cool Joe's flashback:**  
 _Testing his Corkscrew cross in Coach Black's research facility_

Cool Joe crosses the ball and... it's the Corkscrew! The ball spins on the grass as Meda watches in anticipation. Knowing where the ball is going to spin, Shakes runs away from Meda, just as the ball zips itself towards exactly where Shakes knew it would hit. Right at his feet. Meda is left in the dust.

Shakes gets marked by Skarra, but Shakes performs a nifty heel dribble to get past his rival. He then passes the ball to Klaus.

Klaus has El Matador in his sight, but Uber is about to flatten him again. Klaus panics as he tries to flashback fast in order to react in time.

 **Klaus' flashback:**  
 _Supa Strikas training in the snow with tall trees as their opponents, preparing for Iron Tank_

Uber goes for the slide tackle, but Klaus dodges him with a rather impressive jump while carrying the ball between his feet. Now that he finally avoided getting injured by Uber, Klaus passes the ball to El Matador.

El Matador takes another shot, but De Los Santos punches the ball away from the goal and high in the sky towards the midfield.

Shakes has his eyes on the ball, but Riano marks him tightly. This is obviously gonna end up being a header match for possession of the ball. And since Riano trained with the great heading coach El Ariete, Riano is no longer weak to the high ball.

 **Shakes' flashback:**  
 _His header training at the Pirate Tower in Ibiza, taught by El Ariete_

The ball descends lower and lower towards the two young strikes. Shakes and Riano try to box each other out as they jump up to catch the ball. They're both showing guts trying to header a ball despite close contact. Shakes outjumps Riano and uses power and accuracy to header the ball straight to Klaus.

Klaus proceeds to the All-Stars' box with El Matador right beside him. The two exchange nods, having conjured a plan on how score past the giant known as De Los Santos.

 **El Matador's flasback:**  
 _El Matador shoots the ball off the post to lure De Los Santos away from the goal, for Shakes to score_

Klaus kicks the ball straight towards the left post. De Los Santos dives towards the shot with that confident smile on his face, but becomes shocked when the ball bounces off the post. De Los Santos falls down, leaving the All-Stars' goal open for attack.

El Matador jumps after the loose ball and shoots with a header, scoring the ball with ease.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!" Mack cheered._

 _"De Los Santos fell for that trick once, and it looks like he fell for it again," said Brenda. "Supa Strikas have cut the deficit to one, but they need to act fast if they at least want a draw."_

All-Stars are on the attack once again, threatening Supa Strikas' goal. Skarra, Riano, Don Aldo, and Miko Chen lead a four-man attack against Blok and North Shaw. Klaus shows up to help, but Skarra quickly eludes him. When Blok gets in Skarra's way, the United striker passes the ball to Don Aldo. Don Aldo has only Big Bo to get pass for a goal.

 **Big Bo's flashback:**  
 _Big Bo teaches his teammates about the four principles of goalkeeping - observation, instincts, reflexes, and fearlessness_

Big Bo shows fearlessness as he prepares to stop Don Aldo's shot attempt. He observes closely on how Don Aldo plans to shoot. Don Aldo shoots, and Big Bo uses his instincts to know where the ball is going, as well as trusting his reflexes to help him react in time. The ball is about to go in through the high left side, but Big Bo jumps high and punches it away from the net.

North Shaw gets the rebound and kicks the ball to Dancing Rasta in the midfield. Dancing Rasta bounces the pass off his chest and then kicks the ball to Cool Joe. Liquido tries to tackle him, but Cool Joe dodges the tackle with a smooth spin move.

Cool Joe passes the ball to Shakes, who has the unfortunate task of getting past Skarra and Dooma, both whom were coming straight for him.

 **Shakes' flashback:**  
 _Training at the Gauntlet to ready himself for Invincible United's intentional fouling_

Shakes dodges Dooma's tackle with a heel-kick self-pass, immediately followed by an agile mid-air dribble to avoid Skarra's slide tackle. Shakes advances until it was only him against De Los Santos. Shakes was worried at first, but then a brave smile showed on his face as he found a way to score past the towering goalie.

Shakes sets his shot and kicks the ball with his instep. The ball curves towards the right side. De Los Santos dives left for an easy block/catch, but the ball suddenly curves the other way, leaving him diving the wrong way. The ball curves right into the goal and hits the net.

 _"Unbelievable goal from Shakes!" Brenda cheered. "Not even De Los Santos could see that coming."_

 _"The score is tied at 2-2 and we only have two minutes left on the clock before the final whistle," said Mack._

 _"Can Supa Strikas defeat the All-Stars for a second time, or will the All-Stars reign triumphant?" Brenda wondered with suspense._

Supa Strikas celebrate for a little while. After looking like rookies in the first half, they have fought back in the second half and tied the game with just enough time for a winning goal.

"Well done, everyone," said Tiger. "We all played as a team and now we have the chance to strike the winning shot."

"All yours, Tiger," said Shakes. "You deserve it."

"If you're lucky to score past De Los Santos, that is," said El Matador. "Me? I was more than lucky."

Twisting Tiger holds his lucky charm in his hands and says, "I have more than luck on my side."

Ninety seconds left in the game. The score is tied at 2-2. The next goal should seal the deal. The question is, who will score the next goal? Well, right now, the All-Stars are on the attack once again. Riano jumps over Blok's slide tackle. Just as he was about to shoot, North Shaw tackles the ball away from him. North passes the ball high to Twisting Tiger in the midfield.

"All mine," Tiger said excitedly.

Twisting Tiger catches the pass just as Liquido and Meda come towards him. Tiger avoids Liquido's tackle with a swift jump dribble and leaves Meda in the dust with a swift fake-and-run move. Twisting Tiger evades Ninja with a self-pass heel-kick and dodges Don Aldo with a quick right-to-left dribble. Tiger agilely side-steps pass Skarra and quickly spins pass Dooma. Twisting Tiger gets pass his former teammate Miko Chen with an unbelievaby fast zigzag dribble, leaving Miko Chen stunned.

Shakes lures Uber out of his position. El Matador does the same with Bolo, leaving an open goal-scoring opportunity for Twisting Tiger.

De Los Santos cracks his knuckles as he prepares himself.

Using the crosshairs in his brain, Twisting Tiger targets the upper-left corner of the goal. Tiger starts twisting, keeping Santos guessing on where he'll shoot. After ten seconds of steering, Tiger shoots a high-speed shot towards the All-Stars' Goal. De Los Santos dives towards the upper-left corner, but the ball was moving too fast even for him.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"What ball wizardry! What amazing footwork! What brilliant shooting by Twisting Tiger!" Brenda cheered.  
_

 _"Supa Strikas win it. 3-2," Mack said, sounding like he's about to cry tears of joy. "Brenda, hand me a tissue."_

The All-Stars are disappointed by their defeat. Supa Strikas, on the other hand, were celebrating their victory. They've beaten the All-Stars... again. They did it once and they did it a second time.

"Nice shot, Tiger dude!" North cheered.

"Makes me wanna go get myself a lucky charm," Shakes joked.

Everyone laughed, except for El Matador, who didn't understand what was so funny.

"But the important thing is, we won this game as a team," said Tiger.

"So, does that mean you'll stay?" asked Shakes.

"I'm a Supa Strika for life," Tiger answered.

Supa Strikas cheered again. They not only beat a team filled with the Super League's greatest stars but they also finally convinced Twisting Tiger that Supa Strikas is a team worth staying with.

"Twisting Tiger," Miko Chen called.

Tiger approached his old friend.

"Congratulations once again, brother," Miko said.

Tiger shakes hands with his former teammate.

"You too. You played great game today," said Tiger.

 **So, what do you think? Did you like it? What was your favorite part?**


	7. No Pain, No Gain

**I'm not the biggest fan of El Matador, but I thought I'd give him just one moment in the spotlight.**

 **Enjoy.**

 ** _To Shazara_: Live and Kicking is a fun episode, but the reality show aspect and El Matador's "victory" ruined it for me. I don't know if I want to do it. And even if I did, I need new challenges.**

Supa Strikas are facing Hydra next. Hydra's captain Strong had just scored a hat trick against Orion and all three goals were from headers. But not just any headers. Powerful and accurate headers that are taken from very difficult angles, such as heading it through tight defenses. Since El Matador is Supa Strikas' expert header, Coach asked the Battering Ram himself - El Ariete - to train El Matador in the three principles of heading.

Unfortunately, all that training is going badly.

It's been two hours and El Matador hasn't gotten out of the "power" phase of the training. El Ariete keeps shooting soccer balls at him via cannonballs, but all El Matador is doing is running away from the balls while screaming like a girl. Also, his head hurts from the cannon-powered soccer balls.

"C'mon, Forehead. Just one ball in the barrel, and then we can finally move on to Accuracy training," said El Ariete.

El Matador comes out of the bush, with a hot compress bag on his aching head, and says, "As long you stop using the cannons!"

El Ariete shakes his head in embarrassment.

"Strong was more gutsy than you were, and even he couldn't jump off the plank," said El Ariete. "If you wish to out-header Strong, you need to show guts and learn how to take a hit. No pain, no gain."

"If I get pain, I might sit out the next game. My teammates cannot win without me," El Matador boasted.

Tired of El Matador's ego, El Ariete fires another soccer ball out of his cannon... without warning. It hits El Matador in the face.

* * *

The next day...

 _"Match day, live from Hydra's Floating Stadium," Brenda started._

 _"It's a battle between the two hardest heads in the Super League, Brenda. Strong vs. El Matador," said Mack._

 _"El Matador may have the biggest head, but Captain Strong has the skills to go with that hard head of his," said Brenda. "Let's see if El Matador's training in Ibiza pays off."_

Hydra start on the attack. Liquido swiftly dribbles pass Cool Joe and jumps over North Shaw's tackle. In mid-air, he passes the ball to his fellow blue-haired striker. He was about to pass the ball to Strong, but Blok quickly tackles him and steals the ball.

Blok kicks the ball to Dancing Rasta and the midfield attack is on. Twisting Tiger gets possession of the ball and he starts twisting pass Hydra's midfielders. He ends the twisting with a kick to Shakes. Shakes has El Matador in his sights, so he kicks the ball high for him.

El Matador jumps for the header, but Strong and Liquido are in his way. Unable to take the shot at the risk of injuring himself, he froze in the air. Strong headers the ball away while El Matador falls on his back.

 _"Ooh! Tough fall for El Matador," said Mack._

 _"And now Hydra have a chance to capitalize," said Brenda. "Here comes Strong leading the attack."_

Strong skillfully gets pass Dancing Rasta and Klaus. Blok went for a slide tackle, but Strong jumps and then kicks the ball to Liquido. He gives Liquido a hang signal. Pointing at the sky. Liquid nodded in response.

With Twisting Tiger coming towards him, Liquido had to pass high early to Strong.

Shakes and North Shaw try to gang up on Strong, but he had that confident smile on his face. Jumping high, Strong headers the ball hard, right through Shakes and North. Big Bo dives left, but the ball was zooming in too fast due to Strong's, well, _strong_ header.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"One again, the Hydra captain shows why he has the deadliest header in the Super League," said Mack._

 _"Unlike El Matador, Strong is actually willing to challenge tight defense with heading, which gives Hydra the advantage," said Brenda._

With El Matador chickening away from a double-team defense, Shakes decided to take matters into his own hands. He outruns the Hydra player marking him as Cool Joe prepares for takeoff. El Matador tried to catch up, but he was being smothered by the two defenders guarding him. He decided to run the opposite direction.

Cool Joe crosses the ball high into Hydra's box. Shakes had two defenders in his way, but he wasn't going to let that get in his way. Shakes jumps high and heads the ball through the two defenders.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"And Shakes evens it up 1 a piece as halftime approaches," said Brenda._

As the Ref blows the whistle, a ticked-off Shakes approaches an embarrassed El Matador. El Matador tried to sneak away, but Shakes' loud voice stops him.

"Dude, did you even finish the training?!" asked Shakes.

"I... well... you heard the doctor. My head hurts," El Matador said, making an excuse.

"What did El Ariete say?" asked Shakes.

"Ah... no pain, no gain, I think," said El Matador.

"Then stop being scared and show some guts," said Shakes. "You're the self-proclaimed best player in the Super League, right? Then remember that when you're heading."

"Yeah, you're right, Shakes. I am the best," said El Matador, feeling motivated.

* * *

Time for the second half.

 _"The score's tied at 1. Can Supa Strikas come out ahead?" Brenda started._

 _"That depends if El Matador can show some guts and get a header through Hydra's defense," said Mack._

Liquido uses Blok to block Twisting Tiger's path and then crosses the ball high into the keeper's box. Strong jumps high for the header, ready to put his team up by one. Unfortunately for Hydra, Big Bo leaps high and snatches the ball before Strong could header it. Strong cushions his landing with a tumble while Big Bo throws the ball to the midfield.

North Shaw gets pass Liquido with a swift move as he leads the attack.

Shakes is attracting some attention in the, which gives El Matador more room for a goal. North passes the ball to Twisting Tiger, who twists pass three Hydra players, leaving them tripping themselves. Tiger crosses the ball high into the box.

 _"El Matador has an open goal!" Brenda exclaimed._

 _"I don't think so, Brenda, because here comes Strong," said Mack._

The only obstacle between El Matador and the goal is Strong. Deciding he's tired of being afraid, he jumps after the ball. Strong does as well. The two were closing in on the descending ball. Despite their heads being too close together, El Matador did the unthinkable.

El Matador heads the ball... and Strong's head, hurting them both.

While Strong and El Matador fall down, Hydra's keeper dives right. He dove too low, though.

Supa Strikas lead 2-1.

 _"What a goal, Mack," said Brenda._

 _"Well, Supa Strikas may have grabbed the victory, but El Matador and Strong are both gonna need to see a doctor," said Mack._

Strong and El Matador lie down on the ground holding their aching heads. El Matador header-ed the ball so hard that it hurt both him and Hydra's captain a lot. El Matador was seeing stars while Strong was seeing double. The two managed to sit up to glare at each other.

"Nice shot. For a bighead," Strong insulted.

"Nice defense. For a little-head," El Matador insulted.

The two heading masters then fainted again due to extreme forehead pain.

 **Ouch!**

 **I know Liquido is said to be Hydra's captain, but Strong is the Hydra player wearing the captain's arm band.**

 **Strong's header goal in "No El in Team" wowed me so much that I decided to make heading his specialty, hence this chapter.**


	8. The Tiger Strikes

**I know I've written too much about Twisting Tiger already, but he's my favorite Supa Strika and he doesn't get enough attention on the show.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **Leave a review and let me know what you think about the chapter, if you like. Feedback is always appreciated.**

Today, Supa Strikas face their arch-rivals Invincible United at The Vice. It's already the second half and the scores are tied at 1-1. Shakes and Skarra were the ones who scored those goals. The two have been going back and forth during all the first half and everyone is expecting yet another Shakes vs. Skarra scoring battle. And that is how the second half begins. With the two of them going back and forth.

 _"Onto the second half. Shakes and Skarra continue to go at it," said Brenda._

 _"Their teammates might as well be on the bench and let the two of them finish the game," Mack joked. "I can't remember the last time anyone who isn't Shakes or Skarra touched the ball."_

Skarra runs towards Supa Strikas' goal, only for Shakes to tackle him and come up with the steal. Skarra chases Shakes up the field and gets in his way. Shakes toys with him a little with some casual dribbling.

"You ain't gettin' pass me again, Shakes," said Skarra. "But I'd like to see you try. Always do."

"As much as I like our one-on-one battles, Skarra, you forget one thing," said Shakes.

"And what's that, loser?" Skarra asked insultingly.

"I trust my teammates," said Shakes.

Shakes passes the ball to the right, towards the sprinting Twisting Tiger. Tiger taunts Skarra with a wave as he zooms down the right wing.

Two United players go after Tiger, but the right winger zooms right through them, leaving them in the dust. Dingaan and Automatic take their turns in trying to double-team Tiger, but Tiger's twisting results in the two crashing into each other. Everyone winced at the painful sight.

Twisting Tiger twists pass Dooma's slide tackle as he enters the box. Tiger shoots off the twist. United's Keeper dives left... but it was the wrong way.

Supa Strikas lead 2-1.

 _"What a one-man attack by Twisting Tiger on that possession! He's just too quick, too good," said Brenda, wowed._

 _"Don't forget too lucky, Brenda," Mack added._

The rest of the second half is full of Twisting Tiger just embarrassing Invincible United without even showing effort, as if it was too easy.

Dooma leads a three-man attack with Skarra and Dingaan by his side, only for Twisting Tiger to steal the ball from Dooma by twisting.

Automatic lobs the ball high for Dingaan, only for Twisting Tiger to intercept the pass with a spinning jump kick.

After a carefully planned formation by Dooma, Skarra has an open goal, but Twisting Tiger zooms in like a blur to swipe the ball from him.

Shakes and Twisting Tiger play catch with the ball as they both get pass one United defender after another. With Twisting Tiger zooming into the box, Shakes makes the long pass to his fiery-headed teammate. Twisting Tiger jumps over Automatic's slide tackle and takes the shot. United's Keeper is too slow to stop the fast-moving ball.

Supa Strikas lead 3-1.

Supa Strikas' fans are going wild over Tiger's second half performance.

 _"It's 3-1 to Supa Strikas and Twisting Tiger has been the key to this unbelievable run," said Brenda._

 _"I'd hate to be playing for United, because they're gonna get a lot more of this in the rematch at Strikaland next week," said Mack._

Skarra just got past North and Blok, meaning he can take a shot against Big Bo... until Twisting Tiger uses his twisting move to steal the ball from him.

Growling angrily, Skarra says, "That's it! Enough of this!"

Twisting Tiger continues to embarrass United's defense by swerving and zooming pass them without any trouble. Tiger has a great opportunity for another goal, but just as he was about to take the shot...

Skarra slides tackles him hard in the knee.

 _"Ouch!" Mack reacted. "That looks bad."_

 _"It definitely does, Mack. Tiger's not getting up," said Brenda._

Twisting Tiger remains down on the ground holding his injured knee. All of his teammates quickly rush to him to see if he's okay. Skarra chuckles evilly, feeling satisfied with what he did. The Ref gives Skarra a yellow card, but the United striker shrugged it off, as if he didn't care.

* * *

After the game, in Invincible United's lock room...

"You're lucky you didn't get suspended, Skarra," said Vince. "How many times do I have to warn you about your temper? Yes, we were losing, but that's no reason to get yourself punished by the Super League."

"Relax, Vince," Skarra said calmly. "Look on the bright side. With Twisting Tiger out, our victory is guaranteed in the rematch next week."

"Supa Strikas are more than just one man, Skarra," said Dooma. "Why else do you think they're on top of the ladder halfway through the season?"

"Dooma's right, Skarra," said Vince. "Even without Tiger, Supa Strikas can still be dangerous. Like I told you before, they can adapt to anything, even losing a key player."

"What are you saying then, Vince?" asked Skarra.

"Starting tomorrow, double your efforts in training," said Vince. "We need to be extra prepared for the rematch."

"No problem, Vince. You got me, after all," said Dooma, gesturing to his captain's armband.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Supa Strikas are finally allowed to see Twisting Tiger after his knee was treated. The agile midfielder just sits down on his hospital bed with knee bandaged. It definitely looks bad, but they wanted to be sure.

"What's the damage?" asked Coach.

"His knee isn't as damaged as we expected, but it doesn't look good either. It'll heal, but I don't think he can play next week," said the doctor.

"Are you sure?" asked Shakes.

"Even if he can, only for a limited time. But I'm afraid no twisting," said the doctor.

 _It's like Rio all over again_ , Tiger though sadly. A knee injury and a strict no-twisting policy. Even with his Upside-Down Twister, he would still hurt himself by simply running.

"Sucks, man," North commented.

"Klaus, you're in the starting lineup," Coach announced.

"Um... do I have to?" Klaus asked nervously. "What if Skarra tackles me?"

"Just pass me the ball and everything will be dandy," said El Matador.

"Skarra injured Tiger for embarrassing him. What happens if you toy with Skarra?" Cool Joe said.

"Uh, on second thought, Shakes, maybe you should score the goals," El Matador said nervously.

"Enough," Coach interrupted. "Let's just get ready for our flight. Tiger, get some rest."

* * *

A couple days later, Tiger asked for a personal trip to Japan. Coach approved. The Strika Jet takes Tiger all the way to Tokyo. To say his arrival attracted a little too much attention would be an understatement. A lot of waves and requests for autographs happened. Tiger either obliged or ignored them as he made his way to Ga Shuku Stadium, home of Nakama FC.

"Twisting Tiger."

That was Miko Chen, Tiger's former teammate and best friend. The two politely bowed as a greeting.

"I saw what happened a few days ago," said Miko. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," said Tiger. "I just really needed to see a friend. Well, someone who's not a Supa Strika. No offense to them. They're too busy practicing anyways."

"Are you sure you won't be able to play in the rematch?" asked Miko.

"I can if I could, but if I do, I can't twist," Tiger said sadly. "Without my signature move, how can I be any good?"

"Twisting Tiger, you forget that you've always been a great player, even before you developed your special twisting move," said Miko. "You didn't need that move when we won the title for Nakama years ago."

"I remember. We were both so young back then and to win that title was total shock to both of us," said Tiger.

"Nakama will be facing Sultans in three hours. Maybe you can watch and remember the good old days. It might help motivate you for next game against United," said Miko.

"Actually, I was already planning to go see it," said Tiger.

 **~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ SUPA STRIKAS ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~**

Later that day, it was game time at Ga Shuku stadium. Sultans have traveled to Japan to take on Nakama, who remain the second-placed team this season behind Supa Strikas. So, it's clear who the favorites are. And Twisting Tiger gets a front row seat to watch his former team.

 _"It's match day here in Ga Shuku Stadium. Nakama vs. Sultans," Brenda started. "And it looks like we have a surprised guest in the stands, Mack."_

 _"It's so sad that Twisting Tiger won't be able to play against Invincible United in five days, but at least he gets to watch his former team play some serious soccer to lift his spirits," said Mack._

Sultans start on the attack. Sultan's captain Zoom is living up to his name by getting pass Nakama's defense with speed. Unfortunately, he's not as fast as his name makes him out to be. Just as Zoom was about to shoot, Miko Chen comes out of nowhere and tackles the ball away from him. Zoom ends up falling on his face.

 _Ouch_ , everyone thought.

Miko Chen jumps over three tackles and speeds pass two Sultan defenders on his way to the box. After playing give-and-go with the #20 Nakama striker, Miko takes the shot, in the form of a strong martial arts kick. The ball zooms into the net, way before the Sultans' Goalie could even get there.

Nakama leads 1-0.

Zoom and Aziz attempt a two-man strategy, but Sakaram intercepts Aziz's pass and kicks it all the way to Miko Chen. Two defenders come after Miko, but he agilely and gracefully jumps over the two of them.

"Whoa," Tiger reacted.

After playing keep away with two of his teammates, Miko jumps over a Sultan player's tackle and shoots in mid-air with style. Sultans' Goalkeeper dive right, but the ball zoomed right up and over his head.

Nakama leads 2-0.

Aziz tries to take the shot himself, but Nakama's #18 tackles the ball away from him with swiftness and with ease.

Zoom tries to steal the ball from Nakama's #20, but the Nakama striker simply moves the ball in a circular motion to evade Zoom.

A few minutes later, Zoom finally manages to get a shot attempt, but Nakama's Keeper dives right and catches the ball with barely any effort.

Nakama's Keeper throws the ball to Miko, who easily dribbles pass Zoom. Miko takes a quick shot, adding a little left-to-right trickery just in case. Sultans' Keeper doesn't move, failing to react to the trick shot, as the ball hits the net.

Nakama leads 3-0.

Nakama's fans are cheering loud and Tiger gives his best friend an applause. But the game is not over yet.

Zoom takes matters into his own hands and does what he did at the beginning of the game. He just barely skips pass every Nakama player trying to steal the ball from him. After leaving four defenders in the back, Zoom has an open goal. He sets up his set and...

Miko Chen comes out of nowhere again and slide-tackles the ball away, causing Zoom to trip and land on his face. Again.

 _Ouch_ , everyone thought again. Parents covered their children's eyes even.

While Zoom is down, Miko runs to the other side of the field. He spins pass two Sultan defenders and even pulls a nutmeg n' spin on Aziz. Sakarma and Nakama's #20 striker have the defense running all over the box until they were out of the box. Miko takes the shot from outside the box, kicking the ball really hard in a graceful way.

Sultans' Goalkeeper dives too soon and the ball goes into the net.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Four-nil to Nakama as the halftime whistle blows," said Brenda._

 _"I bet Twisting Tiger enjoyed that show," said Mack._

Indeed. Tiger's former teammates never fail to impress him. They didn't need some fancy twisting move to get the upper hand. They mixed fundamentals with their own style to get the better of Sultans.

As Miko heads back to the locker room, he looks at his best friend in the stands and nods at him. Tiger respectfully did the same.

"Maybe I can beat United without needing any special moves," Tiger thought.

* * *

A few days later...

 _"Match day, live at Strikaland," Brenda started. "Invincible United are determined to avenge their loss at home last week with a victory at their arch-rivals' home turf."_

 _"Without Twisting Tiger on the bench with an injury, Invincible United's chances are looking pretty good, considering how much of their defeat was Tiger's doing," said Mack._

 _"Well, with Twisting Tiger out, Coach has put Klaus on the right wing. Let's see if he can make a different for his team," said Brenda._

As soon as the whistle blew, Supa Strikas' offensive attack begins. Dancing Rasta struggles to get pass Dooma, so he passes to the right wing where Klaus is. Klaus manages to dodge one United defender, if barely. He was very nervous about his spot today.

"Klaus, over here!" El Matador called.

Klaus was about to pass to El Matador, until he saw Skarra coming his way. Skarra's face looked like he wanted to hurt him. Panicking, Klaus kicks the ball away and jumps out of bounds to avoid getting hurt.

The ball ends up falling near Dingaan, who takes it to the other side of the field.

 _"Looks like Klaus is too squeamish to take on Skarra, not that I blame him, considering what happened to his teammate," said Mack._

 _"But it's cost Supa Strikas possession of the ball," said Brenda._

Dooma has the ball now as Invincible United prepare to attack Supa Strikas' defense. Using a couple hand signals to communicate with Skarra and Dingaan, Dooma comes up with an attack strategy. After getting past Dancing Rasta with ease, Dooma goes for the front of the box. Blok goes for a slide tackle, but Dooma jumps over him and then passes the ball to Dingaan. Dingaan jumps for a header to surprise North Shaw.

Dooma gets the ball back as he heads straight for Big Bo. Dooma shoots right. Big Bo goes for it. Skarra gets to the ball first and kicks the ball into the unguarded net.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!" Brenda cheered._

 _"What captaining from Dooma to put Invincible United on top," said Mack._

 _"Looks like United have practiced extra hard for this game in spite of Tiger's absence, and it's paying off," said Brenda._

Indeed it was.

Cool Joe crosses the ball to El Matador, but Automatic heads it away from the Latin Magician.

Klaus manages to evade Dingaan and Dooma, but Skarra tackles him and trips him on purpose.

North Shaw leaves his defensive position and finds an open goal for Shakes. Shakes takes his shot, but Skarra's interference made Shakes' shot hit the post.

"Looks like you and your team are finished without Twisting Tiger," Skarra taunted.

"We'll see about that," Shakes said determinedly.

Invincible United's Goalkeeper throws the ball to an Invincible United midfielder. Dancing Rasta steals the ball from him, but Dooma tackles him for the swipe. Dooma uses a give-and-go-like formation with Automatic to get past North and Blok. Dooma finishes the formation with a pass to Skarra.

Shakes tries to get in Skarra's head by staying close, only for Skarra to elbow him away. No penalty, however.

Skarra shoots a strong shot to the left side. Big Bo dives right, but the ball was going too far to the side for him to reach.

 _"That's two goals for Skarra with only seconds to halftime," said Brenda. "Without Twisting Tiger on the field, Supa Strikas appear to be out of the game already."_

Twisting Tiger was definitely not loving this any more than the fans are. His teammates are losing badly out there, not for lack of trying but because Invincible United trained super hard for this rematch. They're eager to get those 3 points back.

* * *

In Supa Strikas' locker room...

Coach was trying to calm himself down. He was really losing his temper during that first half. Despite hard training to prepare for the rematch, his players are being embarrassed by Invincible United.

"Man, it's like United practiced 24/7," said Shakes.

"I'm really sorry, guys. I tried my best," Klaus apologized.

"Don't apologize, Klaus mon. We all should've played harder, but we didn't," said Dancing Rasta.

Twisting Tiger decided it's time to get back out there.

"Coach, I think it's time you put me back out there," said Tiger.

"Are you even okay to play?" asked Coach.

"I did some sprints yesterday. My knee's doing just fine," said Tiger. "Put me on and I'll win this for the team."

"But what if Skarra injures you again?" North asked, worried.

"Did you guys watch Nakama's last game?" Tiger replied.

"Yeah, we saw you in the stands," said Shakes. "What's this got to do with today's game?"

"You guys remember I helped Nakama win the Super League title one year before I even became Twisting Tiger," said Tiger. "I don't have to twist to win this."

"So, Coach, what'll it be?" Cool Joe asked. "Are we gonna put Tiger back out there, or are we gonna have to play hard by ourselves in the second half?"

Coach thinks about it.

* * *

Second half...

 _"The second half in underway and, surprisingly, Coach has decided to bring Twisting Tiger off the bench," said Brenda._

 _"Even if that knee won't bother him, he's still got an entire squad of tackle-happy Invincible United players that might try to do worse," said Mack._

Despite the bandaged knee, Twisting Tiger is more than determined to get back on the field and help his team come back from the 2-goal deficit they are currently in. Kissing his lucky charm, as always, Tiger starts running as his team go on the attack.

Dancing Rasta dances pass two United defenders as he passes the ball to Cool Joe. A United defender goes after Cool Joe, so Joe passes the ball to Shakes.

Shakes stops when Skarra gets in his way.

"No other way through but me, Shakes," Skarra boasted. "What are you gonna do?"

Shakes smiles determinedly and says, "Pass the ball."

Shakes did the same thing he did the last game and casually passes to Twisting Tiger on the right wing.

"United, get him!" Skarra shouted.

Tiger breathes in and out with determination as he prepares to take on United's defense, which are throwing everything they got at him. First up, three United players. Tiger spins pass the first one with grace and agility. He dodges the second one by stepping aside while pulling a nutmeg on him. The third United player tried to tackle him, but Tiger avoids him by simply running faster.

 _"What a first possession for Tiger!" Mack exclaimed, wowed. "Who needs twisting at his rate?"_

Dooma tries to surprise him from behind with a slide tackle, but Tiger backs up a bit with the ball. He lets Dooma slide pass him before proceeding to United's box.

 _"He's almost there, Mack," Brenda said with anticipation._

Only Dingaan and Automatic stand in Tiger's way. A determined smile appears on Tiger's face as he speeds towards the two defenders. He then pulled off the unexpected. He jumps with the ball and twists 360-degrees in mid-air to avoid Dingaan and Dooma. After the mid-air twist, Tiger takes his shot, aiming high. United's Goalie jumps high to the left, but the ball zoomed high to his right.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"And Strikas are finally on the board," said Brenda._

Strikas still trail by 1 goal, but a steal by North Shaw gives the Men in Red another opportunity. And once again, Tiger leads the charge. He zigzags pass Dingaan and Dooma, and then lobs the ball over a United striker while he zooms pass him. Automatic goes after him, but Tiger did another unexpected move (unexpected since his knee is not 100%). He carries the ball between his feet and jumps up and over Automatic. He does a little flip for an amazing landing, wowing his teammates and the crowd.

Tiger goes straight at Invincible United's goalkeeper. The United goalie goes for the slide tackle, but Tiger kicks the ball just in time towards the open goal.

The scores are tied at 2-2.

The crowd is going absolutely nuts. Last week, Twisting Tiger looked like he didn't even had a chance of playing today's game. But now, he looks like his injury isn't bothering him at all.

 _"Listen to this crowd, Mack," said Brenda. "This is certainly a fairy tale being written by Twisting Tiger."_

 _"Question is, Brenda, will it have a happy ending?" Mack wondered eagerly._

 _"Only five minutes left to answer that question, Mack," said Brenda._

Dingaan takes the ball for himself and attacks Supa Strikas' defense, only for Twisting Tiger to swipe the ball from him out of nowhere. Tiger spins, swerves, jumps over, and zooms pass every United player standing in his way. He even did another spinning jump when Automatic tried to slide-tackle him.

Frustrated to the max, Skarra growls angrily and shouts, "That's it!"

Skarra shoves Shakes out of this way as he runs towards Twisting Tiger. Skarra was about to for another dangerous slide tackle.

"NO!" Every Supa Strika cried.

Just as it looks like Skarra was about to cripple the agile right winger again, Twisting Tiger jumps up and avoids the tackle. What's even more amazing than the jump is Twisting Tiger repositioning himself in the air. He was now upside down with the ball hovering right above him, asking to be kicked.

"Whoa," everyone said.

Twisting Tiger performs his own version of the Bicycle Kick and kicks the ball straight towards Invincible United's goal. United's Keeper dives left and reaches as far as he can... but nope.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"And with that unbelievable goal by Twisting Tiger, Supa Strikas win the rematch 3-2," Brenda said cheerfully, wowed._

 _"It certainly is a happy ending," Mack said, sounding like he's gonna cry._

Twisting Tiger celebrates the victory with his teammates as the crowd goes wild. As Supa Strikas wave at their fans, Tiger notices a familiar face in the crowd.

It was Miko Chen, only he was wearing a black hoodie. Clearly, he's here in secret.

The two former teammates gave each other a nod of respect.

 **Now that truly is a fairy tale ending for Twisting Tiger. What do you think?**


	9. One-Man Army

**No big game here. Just Supa Strikas training in their training compound.**

 **Enjoy.**

 _"Match day at Strikaland. The home team takes on Ninja and Cosmos in the anticipated rematch of last year's Super League Finals matchup," Brenda commentated. "Supa Strikas have been very hot as of late and they're the clear favorites to win this game. Let's see if Cosmos can surprise us."_

Ninja takes the ball up the field to start the game. He dodges Dancing Rasta with swift dribbling and leaves El Matador in the dust with some dancing of his own. El Matador raised his fist in anger at being humiliated. Typical El Matador. Ninja played keep away with Bolo to stun Blok. North tries to tackle Bolo, but Bolo quickly passes the ball back to Ninja.

 _"Great start from the Cosmos," said Mack. "It's Ninja vs. Big Bo!"_

Just as Ninja was about to take his shot, Twisting Tiger zooms out of nowhere and swipes the ball from the Cosmos star. Ninja falls on his nose as Tiger takes the ball to the midfield.

 _"Whoa! Where did that come from?" Brenda wondered, shocked by Tiger's speedy defense._

Bolo tries to get in the way, but Tiger dribbles the ball through his legs as he speedily runs around the big guy. Bolo just stood there, stunned. Tiger does some fancy self-passing as he speeds pass three Cosmos defenders. Cosmos' Captain tries to smother Tiger, but he spins pass the Cosmos Captain with ease. Tiger passes the ball to Cool Joe as he runs towards Cosmos box.

After dodging a Cosmos defender, Cool Joe passes the ball back to Tiger.

Tiger starts twisting around the last two defenders and leaps into the air. After a couple more mid-air spins, he kicks the ball. Cosmos' Goalkeeper was so mesmerized by the mid-air twisting that he didn't react fast enough to the kick.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

Supa Strikas lead 1-0.

Cosmos' blue-cornrowed striker takes the ball up the field himself, only for Tiger to spin-tackle the ball from him. The striker ends up falling on his rear end, much to Klaus' amusement. Klaus shuts himself up when the Cosmos striker glares at him and runs back on defense.

Tiger nutmegs Ninja and leaps over Bolo with a flip jump. He goes left at the Cosmos Keeper, only to suddenly shoot right. Cosmos Keeper dives the wrong way and Tiger scores another goal.

Supa Strikas lead 2-0.

Tiger zoom-tackles Ninja to swipe the ball from him.

Bolo kicks the ball away from El Matador, but Tiger gets in front of a Cosmos midfielder to intercept the pass.

Ninja slide-tackles the ball from Cool Joe and passes the ball long to the other side, but Tiger steals the pass with his signature twisting.

 _"Supa Strikas may value teamwork, but Tiger is a one-many army all on his own," said Brenda._

 _"Hey, it's working," said Mack._

Shakes gets surrounded by two Cosmos defenders, so he passes the ball through one defender's legs to Twisting Tiger, who is cutting into the box all by himself. Tiger goes right and kicks the ball low to the left. Cosmos Keeper once again goes the wrong way as the ball bounces off the left post and hits the net.

 _"That's 3-0 to Supa Strikas... and it's not even halftime yet," said Mack._

 _"Twisting Tiger has single-handedly embarrassed Cosmos and kept Supa Strikas reaching for the stars," said Brenda._

 _"Imagine Tiger versus his own team. I'd pay to see it, Brenda," said Mack._

* * *

The next day, at Supa Strikas' training compound, the team arrives to practice for their next game. However, they couldn't stop talking about Twisting Tiger's performance yesterday. Supa Strikas beat Cosmos 6-0, with Tiger scoring 5 of those 6 goals. Teamwork was a key factor in that win, but Tiger's one-man massacre against Cosmos was the highlight of the game.

"Oh, the look on Ninja's face when you twisted the stars out of him," North remembered.

"Way better than how El Matador did it," Shakes commented.

"Hey!" El Matador reacted, offended.

"Seriously, Tiger. If your groove came with in the form of music, I bet we'd all want to hear it. 'Cause your moves are sick, man," said Cool Joe.

"We won as a team, guys," said Tiger. "But I'm happy to do my part."

"Tiger is correct," said Coach. "Teamwork is always the key to victory. I know plenty of you had your times as a virtual one-man arm, but it's always team effort that wins games. Still, I wonder..."

"Wonder what, Coach?" asked Tiger.

"How you fare against your own team, Tiger," Coach answered.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Shakes asked curiously.

"All of you, defense positions. Try to stop Tiger from getting to Big Bo," Coach ordered. "Tiger, you'll start from the opposite goal. Try to get past your entire team."

"Ooh, this should be fun," said El Matador.

"Don't hold back. Give it your best," said Coach.

"No problem-o, Coach," said North.

"Razarag," said Blok, excited.

"I'll try not to embarrass you too much, Tiger," El Matador bragged.

 **~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ SUPA STRIKAS ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~**

Everyone gets into positions. Shakes, Klaus, El Matador, Cool Joe, Dancing Rasta, North Shaw, and Blok put on their orange practice jerseys and place themselves in different positions on defense. Shakes and El Matador guard the back half of the field. Dancing Rasta, Cool Joe, and Klaus guard the midfield. North and Blok are in their usual positions around the defenders' box. Big Bo stood firmly in front of the goal, ready for action. Twisting Tiger is all the way on the other side, standing by the opposite goal with the ball at his feet.

Tiger kisses his lucky charm for luck as Coach prepares to blow the whistle.

"Remember, take this seriously," said Coach.

Coach blows the whistle.

Twisting Tiger starts dribbling the ball up the field. Shakes is the first to get in the way, but Tiger evades him by swerving left and right with incredible speed. Shakes ends up looking over his own shoulder after Tiger slipped right past him without any trouble.

El Matador steps in Tiger's way, only for Tiger to dribble the ball through his legs as the agile midfielder stepped past his side with sublime swiftness. El Matador just stood there, stunned at how he could have been embarrassed so easily.

Dancing Rasta and Cool Joe go right at Tiger at the same time. Tiger bounces the ball into the air off his heel just in time to dash right past Rasta. By the time the ball had landed, Tiger dodges Cool Joe with some quick footwork. Both the captain and the music star were in awe at how easily they were bested by Twisting Tiger.

It's Klaus' turn... and Tiger got past him very easily by moving right and then left with unbelievable quickness. Klaus can only gasp and mentally slap himself.

Only North and Blok remain to keep Tiger away from the goal. But Tiger spins past North without any trouble. Tiger then took a page out of Miko Chen's playbook and leaped over Blok with a back-flip.

Big Bo tensed his own muscles as he prepared to react to whatever Tiger had in store. Tiger started twisting to confuse him, but Big Bo tried as he can to remain focused on waiting for the shot. Tiger keeps twisting and twisting and he shoots. Big Bo dives the wrong way.

GOAL!

"Nice shot, Tiger," said Coach. "The rest of you, take it more seriously. Try again."

Tiger's teammates were taking it easy while taking it seriously at the same time. After that embarrassing first run, they played harder to prevent Tiger from reaching the goal. Unfortunately, even with them really trying, they're still getting embarrassed by their red-haired teammate.

Shakes tries playing extremely tight defense on Tiger, but Tiger nutmegs him and spins right past him.

Tiger toys with El Matador with some stylish dribbling before speeding pass him while he was mesmerized.

Rasta and Cool Joe try another defensive combo, but Tiger reacted very quickly. He jumps over Rasta's slide tackle and quickly eludes Cool Joe with an unbelievably quick left spin.

Klaus stood his ground, only for Tiger to twist circles around him.

North and Blok come at Tiger from both sides. Tiger just squeezes through in between them with a slick spin move.

"I don't know if I should be proud or disappointed. Or both," Coach commented.

Tiger takes a shot in the form of a one-handed handstand plus a martial-arts-esque kick. Big Bo dives left quickly, but he couldn't get to the ball in time.

One possession later, Tiger shoots with a spectacular back-flip kick. Big Bo dives low to the right, but the ball zooms in before he could even get a finger on it.

One possession later, Tiger jumps over Blok again and kicks the ball in mid-air with style. Big Bo dives right, but the ball bounces off the ground and hits the back of the net.

"That's it. No more Mr. Nice Guy," said El Matador, tired of being humiliated.

El Matador tries to play the most intense defense he has every played in his life (playground and real games included). After getting pass Shakes again, Tiger takes on El Matador once again. El Matador moves as quickly as he can, but Tiger still had that confident smile on his face. Tiger taps the ball a little to the left, forcing El Matador to go after it. But before El Matador can steal it, Tiger scoops it in his foot and slides it away in a half-circular sweeping motion. This surprise move caused El Matador to stumble forward and fall on his face.

Tiger turns up the speed and gets pass the midfield defense. Klaus tries chasing him, only to trip himself trying. North goes for a slide tickle, but Tiger dodges it with a quick sidestep. Blok stands firm, but Tiger slides through his legs like Shakes did with The Mangler.

Big Bo goes for the ball, but Tiger jumps over his dive and shoots the ball towards the unguarded net.

 **~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ SUPA STRIKAS ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~**

About half an hour, everyone was exhausted - the ones in the orange jerseys, at least. Everyone's hands are on their knees, their backs are bent, and they're panting from exhaustion. Big Bo may not be as exhausted as everyone (since he's the goalie and he only stands on one place), but he's tired of jumping at every side of the goal and failing to get a save. How many times did he fail? He lost count after nine.

Tiger, on the other hand, looks like he's just getting started.

"C'mon, guys. 30 down, 60 more to go. It's like a 90-minute type of exercise," said Tiger.

"No thanks," said Shakes, tired. "I need to take five... hundred. Maybe thousand. Or billion."

"I know how you do it, but nobody can just run that fast," North complained.

"I think I'm gonna need to see a doctor for my face," El Matador whined.

"I must say, I'm impressed, Tiger," said Coach. "I knew you could do it, but I didn't think you could make them look like rookies."

"Hey, who you calling rookies, Coach?" El Matador reacted, offended.

"Just playing my style, Coach," said Tiger.

"Everyone, take a break," said Coach. "Take the day off if you have to. You were really getting owned out there."

"Is Coach actually mocking us?" North asked.

"I guess I don't have to train with dummies anymore," said Tiger.

"What are you talking about? You got plenty of dummies to train with," El Matador said, thinking Tiger meant the metal dummies.

"Sure, that's what I meant," Tiger said slyly.

Tiger walks away to find new "dummies" to train with.

"Wait, was he talking about us?" Cool Joe wondered, having caught up with the insulting joke.

 **That was embarrassing... for Tiger's teammates.**


	10. No Coach, No Problem

**Sorry I've been gone long. Other commitments, real life hindrances, brief retirement, and all that... but here's a new chapter.**

 **So, I've written a chapter for each plot I've teased in the summary, but there's only one left. "The team coaching themselves." Well, here's the chapter with that plot. Enjoy.**

 ** _To Yukino1410_: Tiger is my favorite, too.**

Supa Strikas and Nakama - the Top 2 teams in the Super League this season, respectively - face each other in back-to-back matches. The first match is at Ga Shuku Stadium. The next match will be at Strikaland. If Supa Strikas win both games, they stay on top of the ladder with a larger lead against Nakama. If Nakama wins one game, their league points will be tied. If Nakama wins both games, they will take Supa Strikas' spot as the top team this season.

As for the first match...

 _"It's 3-0 to Nakama, and with only 15 minutes left in the match," said Mack._

 _"You'd think a battle between the Top 2 teams in the Super League would be even more tightly contested, but Nakama have made this an even more lopsided match than expected," said Brenda._

Miko Chen and two of his teammates are just passing the ball back and forth while zooming pass Supa Strikas' defense with ease. Not even Twisting Tiger's twisting move could interrupt Nakama's attack pattern. El Matador charges at Miko Chen, only for Miko to pass the ball before side-stepping, causing El Matador to spin out of control and land on his face. He now has grass and dirt in his mouth... again.

 _"El Matador is definitely gonna need to brush his teeth again," Mack commentated. "That's the second time in the second half Nakama has made him eat grass, and the fifth time in the entire game."_

North and Blok try to keep up with two Nakama players just as Miko makes his way towards the box. Shakes and Dancing Rasta chase Miko Chen in an attempt to either steal the ball from him or to force him to give it up. Miko smirks as he taps the ball backwards, right pass Shakes and Rasta. Sakarama gets the ball and quickly lobs it right over Shakes and Rasta, who stopped chasing Miko because of the sudden pass.

Miko catches the lob and takes an uncontested shot right at Supa Strikas' goal. Big Bo dives right, but the ball curves the other way at the last second.

4-0 Nakama.

 _"That's 4 straight unanswered goals by Nakama," said Brenda._

 _"With only a dozen minutes left, it'll be a miracle if Strikas ever score just one goal," said Mack._

Coach is beginning to lose his temper... again. He is grunting and growling in pain, trying to resist shouting while the game is still on. While keeping the angry look on his face, he raises three fingers and says, "Rasta, Formation 3!"

"Formation 3, guys," Rasta informed his teammates.

"Wait, was Formation 3 where Shakes and El Matador switch wings, or was it where we get Tiger open for a goal?" Cool Joe asked, having trouble remembering.

"It was... uh... I can't remember either, mon," Rasta admitted.

"Rasta, look out!" Tiger shouted.

Miko Chen tries to slide-tackle the ball away from the distracted Rasta. Rasta barely dodges the slide-tackle and passes it to Cool Joe. However, Nakama's #20 striker intercepts the pass.

"Passing the ball to me first was Formation 6," Cool Joe reminded. "Or was it 5?"

 _"Supa Strikas look confused down there, Mack," Brenda noticed. "It's as if they don't know what their Coach is telling them."_

Supa Strikas' forwards and the midfielders start running to the other side to play defense, but Nakama's players are just too fast. Not only are Nakama fast but Supa Strikas are looking winded. El Matador isn't even running properly; he's just moving his arms willy-nilly as if he's about to pass out.

"Did Coach really have to teach up like 20 or 50 formations before this match?" El Matador complained.

"You think remembering 20+ formations was tough?" Shakes replied. "Try not telling him that you were exhausted and in pain from the extreme practicing yesterday because he was angrier than usual?"

"So letting him push us is fair?" El Matador questioned angrily. "I'm tired, amigo! This is the first time in forever I cannot go for 90 minutes."

"We're all tired, dude!" North pointed out.

In the next possession, Coach tells his team to try Formation 7. Unfortunately, his players seem to have forgotten the formation. Cool Joe kicks the ball to the right wing to Twisting Tiger, who passes the ball to Shakes, much to Coach's frustration. Not knowing what to do next, Shakes fails to react to a Nakama defender's tackle. Shakes falls and clutches his right knee, which aches from the landing.

A few minutes later, Coach draws the number 14 on a piece of paper so his players will know what formation to use next. Just like before, his players don't remember the formation. North thought he was supposed to join Shakes and El Matador on the attack, taking the ball himself pass a couple Nakama defenders, only to get the ball swiped from him by Nakama #18.

Coach's next order - Formation 11. As he tries to remember what it is, Dancing Rasta dances his way pass Nakama's defense, only to lose concentration due to the thinking. He loses control of the ball and Miko Chen steals it. Klaus goes after Miko Chen, but Miko just zooms away, leaving behind a trail of dust that Klaus breathes in, causing him to sneeze and lose balance.

North and Blok are running themselves ragged keeping up with the other Nakama players. Cool Joe tries to take on Miko, only to get sidestepped like he's just an inanimate object in the way. After jumping over Twisting Tiger's slide tackle, Miko heads straight for Big Bo.

After a give-and-go with a teammate, Miko goes for a karate-like kick, sending the ball flying to the upper-right corner. Big Bo's jump/block attempt was low and weak, giving Miko an easy goal.

5-0 Nakama as the clock hits 90.

Ura Giri laughs at Supa Strikas' embarrassment. Coach, on the other hand, is losing it, once again.

 _"A five-point defeat on the road for Supa Strikas," said Brenda._ _"Coach's men look lost, exhausted, and in pain."_

 _"Does Coach overwork his players too hard? Stay tuned and find out," Mack said ominously._

* * *

After the match, Supa Strikas return to the locker room and rub ice all over themselves. On their knees. On their shoulders. On their feet. On their heads. Anywhere that hurts. And they drink as much water as they can, feeling very exhausted and dehydrated from chasing Nakama all game long. Coach has not returned to the locker room, yet, probably venting in private.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how mad do you think Coach is?" asked North.

"Judging by how much he tried to resist exploding out there, I'd say 12," Shakes exaggerated.

"I can't believe a good night rest could not take away the pain and exhaustion of yesterday's practice," said Tiger.

"Coach wanted us to be extra prepared for Nakama," Rasta justified their coach's actions.

"By giving us 20-30 formations to memorize while making us exercise until our muscles ache?" Shakes complained.

"Ah... well... maybe he went a bit too far," Rasta admitted.

"A bit?" Cool Joe questioned.

"Azarga zurgo," Blok argued.

"Maybe not as important as our health, but if we lose the next match, we'll lose the top spot on the Super League ladder," said Big Bo.

"I'd rather take defeat if it means a week off from more training," said El Matador.

"I'm with you," Klaus sympathized. "I mean, what's wrong with being 2nd place? We've been the best for four straight seasons. Surely, we can sacrifice the top spot for just one season, ja?"

Coach suddenly enters the locker room, alarming everyone. Not wanting to look like wimps, they put away the ice packs and put on fake smiles. Coach, however, could see through them easily, forcing them to drop the act.

"Look, Coach, we're sorry," Shakes started. "There were just too many formations to memorize."

"Not to mention we worked our knees and backs pass the limit," North added. "Not that that's an excuse... we just..."

"Enough," said Coach. "We lost today and the fault... is mine."

"Huh?" All players gasped, shocked.

"I worked you all too hard yesterday because Nakama was gonna be our toughest matchup this season," said Coach. "It didn't matter if we were on top of the ladder. Nakama has us beat in goals, passing, defense... everything. I wanted you all to be in top shape, but... as much as I hate to admit it... I did it wrong."

"Coach admitting he's wrong. That's new," said El Matador.

"And that is why I won't be coaching the next game," said Coach.

"Huh?' All players gasped, again.

"I just called my doctor. I need a vacation to get away from the stress," said Coach.

"But what about us?" asked Shakes.

"Well, you'll have to coach yourselves," Coach answered. "Make up your own formations. Train as much as your bodies can take. What you do in the next match is entirely up to you."

"Is this a test?" North asked suspiciously.

"In a way, yes," said Coach. "I was a player before I became a coach. I passed on what I learned from the field to all of you. But now, you must teach yourselves. Win or lose, maybe we all have something to learn from this."

"So, wait, we work our butts off some more while you're sipping umbrella drinks in the Bahamas?" El Matador complained.

"If you want to take the week off, that's fine," said Coach. "Just... try to get at least a little bit of training. It's up to you. I have no control over what you do next."

Coach leaves the room so his players can think of what he just told them. No Coach for the next game. After getting humiliated today by Nakama, how are they gonna be able to win on the next one without Coach? Test or not, another loss is a failure for them.

* * *

Three days later, Supa Strikas meet up at the Secret Training Compound. After a day of traveling to get back home, they took the day off. After that day off, Rasta called everyone to the compound so they can practice for their next match against Nakama. No Coach. It's just them. They can draw their own attack patterns and practice however they want to. First, they do some warm-ups, be it stretching or dribbling practice.

Shakes and El Matador do some target practice on the Match Mat (dribble the ball on the moving platform, and then shoot the ball at the moving target on the large screen; the machine will calculate your accuracy). Shakes scores 93%, 97%, and 96% on his first three attempts. El Matador scores 75%, 79%, and 88%. Clearly, El Matador has been doing too much relaxing yesterday. Shakes must've been playing a little bit of soccer in his free time yesterday.

"Eh, slow start," El Matador said as an excuse. "El Matador will be back in shape in no time."

"Keep believing that and maybe you'll be close," Shakes dissed subtly.

Twisting Tiger, meanwhile, takes three shots against Big Bo. On the first shot, Tiger successfully kicks the ball into the right side. On his second shot, Tiger goes for a curveball so Big Bo dives the wrong way. On the third shot, Tiger goes for a powerful low-arcing shot that Big Bo couldn't reach in time.

"Your reaction timing is good, but your anticipation isn't 100% yet," Tiger judged.

"Testing my observation and reflexes. No problem," Big Bo said confidently.

"Alright, guys. Time for the real training," Rasta called.

Everyone gathers around their captain.

"Nakama are fast, skilled, and they have endless ways to misdirect us," said Rasta. "We must find the right playbook to match their quickness and aggression."

"I got it covered," said El Matador.

El Matador is already drawing on the board. He's drawn 3 plays so far. All of them have one thing in common: Give the ball to El Matador. Everyone just glares at El Matador.

"What? Give me the ball and I score the goal. It's the simple but most effective plan," El Matador claimed.

"Dude, we need to show teamwork in these plays," said North. "And even if we give you the ball, the setups have to be flawless."

"Passing the ball to me is already a flawless plan," said El Matador.

"Move aside," Rasta ordered. "Blok, Big Bo, fill the pitch with Coach's training robots and set them to high level."

Rasta flips to the next page and starts drawing a more organized play. It resembles their classic playstyle, but with a few tweaks. For instance, instead of staying in the defenders' box, North can squeeze through the midfield in order to set up Cool Joe for a cross to Shakes. Shakes and El Matador have to be in sync moving up the pitch and get into position. Twisting Tiger cuts through the middle and helps to open space for Shakes and El Matador.

"Got it?" asked Rasta.

"You bet, captain," said Shakes.

Blok and Big Bo get at least eight of Coach's training robots and set them to Level 7 to add some difficulty to this training. The robots move side to side really fast, which is how they're programmed to play defense.

"Remember, we do this as a team," Rasta reminded.

Blok starts off with the ball and kicks it to North, who kicks the ball to Dancing Rasta to kick-start the attack. Rasta dances around the midfielder robots. North leaves his defensive position and makes his way towards the box. Rasta taps the ball to North, who swerves pass a robot before passing to Cool Joe. Cool Joe kicks the ball over a robot. While this is all happening, Shakes and El Matador run around every robot that gets in their way and making sure they're positioning themselves properly at the same time.

Shakes catches Cool Joe's pass as he gets pass a defender robot. Tiger draws one defender robot's attention away from Shakes, giving the youngest Strika room to shoot. Shakes aims for the left side and shoots, but Big Bo catches the ball.

"Nice job, everyone," said Rasta. "Perfect harmony, as it should be."

"Hey, let's crank up these robots," North suggested. "You know, to better prepare ourselves."

"Level 10 then," Big Bo decided.

The robots are set to the maximum Level 10. They're moving at their fastest, which may prove harder for Supa Strikas. But considering that Nakama is who they're facing next, they have to welcome even the hardest kinds of training.

"Same formation, but be more alert," said Rasta.

Same as before. Blok to North. North to Rasta for the offense to start. Dodging the robots has become harder, because Rasta almost lost control of the ball. Shakes and El Matador are no longer running normally. They're skipping left and right and panicking a little because the robots are so fast. El Matador breaks the playbook by getting shoulder-bumped to the ground by a robot. Shakes trips on a robot's leg, falling on his face.

Rasta passes the ball to North, who gets hit by a robot on the way to the box. The ball finds its way to Twisting Tiger, who twists the ball to Cool Joe. Cool Joe sees Shakes back on his feet and passes the ball high. Shakes is about to catch the ball, only for a robot to get in the way and header it away. El Matador catches the ball and attempts to fancy-dribble pass the robots...

And gets slammed straight on by a robot.

North bumps into Rasta. Cool Joe gets hit on the right shoulder by a robot. Klaus, for some reason, gets bodied by two robots. Tiger dodges the robots with his twisting move before shooting. Unfortunately, his shot hits the post. Tiger was too focused on dodging the fast robots in order to concentrate on his shot.

"Everybody okay?" asked Tiger.

Almost everyone is on the ground, slightly in pain. These robots were made of light metal so no one gets hurt, but cranking them to max level makes collisions with them actually painful... except for Blok, who did nothing but stand around.

"Okay, let's tone it down to Level 1, shall we?" El Matador replied. "Or at least call the bench players. Where are they, by the way?"

* * *

Four days later...

 _"Match Day at Strikaland," Brenda started. "Supa Strikas are coming off a massive defeat at the hands of Nakama last week, but this game is their chance to retake the top spot of the Super League ladder. If they fail, Nakama becomes the new #1."_

 _"And here's the most shocking thing today, Brenda. Coach is nowhere to be seen for Supa Strikas," Mack noticed. "How can the Men in Red hope to garner a victory against their toughest competition this season without their tactical genius?"_

 _"We'll just have to wait and see, Mack," said Brenda._

The overconfident looks on the faces of Nakama and Ura Giri can be seen very clearly. Without Coach, Supa Strikas can't be at their best, or at least that's what they believe. Last time Supa Strikas didn't have Coach against them, they were helpless. This time, there's no substitute coach to save them.

"No Coach, no problem," Ura Giri said before he laughed evilly. "I hope you're watching, Coach. Say goodbye to the top spot of the Super League Ladder." He laughed evilly again.

And the whistle blows.

Supa Strikas start off on the attack. Rasta gives a hand signal (a salute) to the entire team, telling them what their first play is. Everyone nods in response, knowin what they have to do. They all get into their positions on the pitch in order to set up their game plan.

 _"Coach or no Coach, Supa Strikas clearly have a plan in mind," said Mack._

 _"Question is, can they execute it to perfection?" Brenda said._

North Shaw cuts through the midfield as Dancing Rasta dances pass a Nakama midfielder. Shakes and El Matador run as fast as they can to avoid getting suffocated by Nakama's defenders. Rasta passes to North, who passes to Cool Joe. Twisting Tiger draws a couple defenders his way towards penalty arc. Cool Joe barely dodges Sakarama as he crosses the ball to Shakes.

 _"Cool Joe crosses to Shakes. Can he do it?" Brenda commentated._

Shakes watches eagerly as the ball heads his way. Unfortunately, Miko Chen comes out of nowhere and headers the ball towards the Nakama goalkeeper, disrupting Supa Strikas' play.

 _"Ooh, Nakama read that one like a book," said Mack._

Miko Chen leads the counter attack. Miko swerves left and right to avoid Cool Joe, and then leaps over Klaus' slide-tackle. El Matador tries to chase Miko down as fast as he can, but he's running like a cartoon character due to near maximum effort. Miko sighs, annoyed, as he simply changes gears and leaves El Matador in the dust. El Matador ends up breathing in the dust left behind, causing him to cough and stop running.

Miko misdirects North's attention by passing the ball to Nakama #20. After running pass North, Miko gets the ball back and runs around Blok with ease. With no other obstacle in the way, Miko drives right and then takes his shot, with style. The ball curves to the upper left corner. Big Bo dives high, but he was too late.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Nakama score the first goal of the game," said Brenda. "Supa Strikas may look organized, but they don't seem to have the correct direction. Where's Coach when you need him?"_

Rasta's next hand signal: a rotating fist. El Matador gets the ball on the left wing and must pass to Shakes to the right. However, a Nakama defender swipes the ball from behind him, causing El Matador to trip on ball and land on his face. Once again, there's grass in his mouth.

 _"Well, you know what they say, kids? Always eat your greens," Mack joked._

 _"Mack," Brenda scolded._

Rasta's next hand signal: two thumbs-ups. Shakes, El Matador, and Klaus run in a triangle-shaped formation. Klaus is in the far back while Shakes and El Matador stick close together. Klaus passes the ball high. El Matador leaps for the header, but Miko Chen jumps even higher and kicks the ball away. El Matador falls on his face again.

 _"No matter what Supa Strikas try to do, Nakama anticipate their every move with such proficiency," said Brenda._

 _"And here comes Nakama on the counter once again," said Mack._

A Nakama midfielder drives pass Klaus and North Shaw before passing the ball to Miko Chen. Blok and North attack from opposite side, but Miko dashes right pass them. Blok collides with North and accidentally flattens him. Blok gets off North, but North is in too much pain to stand.

 _"This is painful to max, Brenda," said Mack._

 _"And it's about to get a lot more painful for Supa Strikas," said Brenda._

Miko runs straight towards Big Bo, baiting him. Big Bo falls for it and lunges forward. Miko takes his shot quickly and the ball hits the high side of the goal.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Two-nil Nakama," said Brenda. "Can this get any more painful for the home team?"_

Dancing Rasta's next hand signal: zipping his mouth. But before Rasta can give up the ball, Miko Chen speeds towards him and swipes the ball from him. Miko jumps over Blok's slide-tackle and passes the ball while in the air to Sakarama.

 _"Apparently, it can," Mack replied to his co-commentator's recent question._

North is all alone against four incoming Nakama players. Deciding to further overwhelm the lone Strikas defender, Miko and his teammates play keep away with precision passing and quality field movement. The ball stops at Miko's feet. North decides to risk it and goes for the tackle. Miko jumps over North, and repositions himself mid-air.

Miko goes for a flashy mid-air kick. Big Bo dives left, but he didn't dive high enough.

3-0 in favor of Nakama.

 _"Iron Tank and Invincible United can hurt Supa Strikas physically, but Nakama are the only ones who can hurt emotionally like this," said Mack. "It was already ugly with Coach, but without him..."_

Miko Chen swipes the ball from Cool Joe and leads the attack once again for Nakama. Twisting Tiger twists out of nowhere to steal the ball from his former teammate. Tiger runs to the other end with Miko and the other Nakama players on his tail. Fortunately, Tiger is just as fast, if not faster, than them. Unfortunately, his passing options are either limited or nonexistent.

"Over here!" El Matador called.

"Tiger, right here!" Shakes called.

"Uh, definitely not me," Klaus pleaded.

Strikas' forwards are all marked tightly. They try to run to an open spot, but Nakama's defenders are just too quick to shake off. Twisting Tiger can't stop and pass, but he can't keep running without a plan in mind. Miko Chen tries to swipe the ball from him from behind, but Tiger jumps over his kick. A Nakama defender tries to cut him off, forcing Tiger to run left. Realizing he is about to be lead out of bounds, Tiger heads backwards and starts twisting, allowing him to breeze through the tight defense.

Tiger stops at the very center of the pitch. Miko Chen and four other Nakama players surround him, but before anyone can make a move...

The ref blows the halftime whistle.

 _"Twisting Tiger was handling himself just fine, but nothing more can be done until the second half," said Brenda. "Without Coach to draw up a proper game plan, Supa Strikas might as well kiss that top spot of the ladder goodbye."_

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Bahamas, Coach is having a sweet umbrella drink while watching the match on TV. One would think Coach would start losing his temper just watching his team embarrass themselves without him... yet, for some reason, he only feels mild disappointment. He feels mostly calm, which means that his sessions with his doctor about relaxation and stress management is working, more or less.

"Hey, aren't you Supa Strikas' coach?" A beachgoer recognized. "Why are you here? Your team is sucking out there."

"My Doctor tells me I need a vacation to manage stress," Coach explained. "And as for my team, consider this a lesson. To see how they can manage on their own. But as my Doctor tells me, don't dwell too much on the negative. Even if they lose, we both have something to learn from this."

"Like what?" The beachgoer asked.

"We'll just have to wait for the second half," said Coach.

* * *

In Supa Strikas locker room, Dancing Rasta is standing in front of the board with a red marker in hand, trying to think of more formations for his team. Unfortunately, he's all out of ideas. The rest of the team is feeling just as down as he is right now.

"We are a disgrace with or without Coach," El Matador said hopelessly.

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm not defending our goal good enough," said Big Bo. "Observation. Instincts. Reflexes. Fearlessness. Where did all that go?"

"I don't get it. We practiced as hard as we could. We memorized all of our plays. What went wrong?" Shakes wondered.

"We did not look like a team in those closing minutes," Rasta noticed. "Everyone was running around and not following the playbook."

"Try getting into position with Nakama sticking to you like honey to a beehive," said El Matador.

"We can't win with Coach's rules, and we can't win with our own rules. I knew coaching ourselves would be hard, but..." Shakes paused.

"It sucks, dude. How are we gonna win even with a plan?" asked North.

"Is it seriously too soon to just call it quits?" Cool Joe asked hopeless. "Since when have we ever done any good without Coach?"

"Sneaking into our our enemies' locker rooms. Fooling around on the field. Yeah, we never had a good record managing ourselves," North remembered.

"Zurgazog," Blok said sadly.

"Wait, North may be on to something," said Shakes.

"I am?" asked North.

"Without Coach, what are we the best at doing?" Shakes asked.

"Fooling around," North answered.

"And that's exactly how we're gonna win," said Shakes.

"What do you mean, mon?" asked Rasta.

"We've spent the past week trying to do what Coach would do and mixing it with our personal style of play," said Shakes. "And the reason Nakama are able to beat us at our game is because they were prepared for anything. They can read us, anticipate what we're doing. They don't even need a fancy gadget from Toni Vern to do it. They're just that good, but also because they're disciplined and focused."

"To the point, please," North interrupted.

"What if we play a game that Nakama don't expect? A game where there are no rules, but we still have each other's backs?" Shakes proposed.

Shakes turns and looks at his teammate Twisting Tiger, who is currently dribbling a soccer ball off his knee again and again to forget about the sadness of the moment. Soon, everyone looks at Tiger. Suddenly, everyone starts to look confident again. Tiger stops playing around and looks at everyone with a confused look on his own face.

"Tiger, what do you say we mess with Nakama's heads?" asked Shakes.

Tiger smiles and says, "Whatever you have planned, I'm in."

* * *

On to the second half...

 _"The second half is underway and we have a rather odd sighting on Supa Strikas' behalf," said Brenda._

Supa Strikas have possession of the ball, but every single one of their players are in the back of the field. Not a single Strika pass Nakama's half of the pitch. This is confusing Nakama, Ura Giri, the fans, and the commentators.

 _"Uh, what exactly are the Men in Red doing?" Mack asked. He's very confused. "They're all standing on their half of the pitch, even though they're on the offensive. Is this their way of waving the white flag?"_

Dancing Rasta suddenly starts advancing with the ball, drawing Nakama's defenders towards him. However, Rasta passes behind him to North Shaw, who is running towards the corner. North passes the ball to Big Bo, who kicks the ball to Blok. Blok kicks the ball to Cool Joe on the left side, who crosses the ball all the way to El Matador on the right side. El Matador passes to Shakes, who taps the ball back to Rasta, who passes the ball back to Cool Joe. Cool Joe decides to perform his signature Corkscrew cross. The balls finds its way back to Big Bo.

While all this is happening, Nakama are chasing the ball around Supa Strikas' half of the pitch, until there isn't a single Nakama player on the other half of the pitch. Everyone is crowding Supa Strikas' side of the field.

 _"Uh, are Supa Strikas just playing Piggy In The Middle until the whistle blows?" Mack wondered, beyond confused._

 _"Wait, Mack, look!" Brenda shouted._

Ura Giri, who was just as confused as everyone about the "Piggy In The Middle" situation going on, gasped in shock at what was happening behind his players' backs. Something that he doesn't like.

Miko Chen stands by as he waits for an opportunity to steal the ball. However, he notices something in his peripheral vision. It's Twisting Tiger, who is running away from the childish games of the back and heading towards the front.

 _"Twisting Tiger has broken through!" Brenda noticed._

Having seen that Tiger has broken loose, Shakes kicks the ball as hard as he can, sending it all the way to the other side of the pitch. Tiger, being the only one in the other end of the field, catches the ball no problem. All that's left is to score against Nakama's goalkeeper.

Twisting Tiger starts twisting to confuse the keeper. Tiger stops twisting and shoots with a mid-air twist kick. Nakama's keeper dives right, but the ball whooshes right over his head and hits the back of the next.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

Supa Strikas (1) - (3) Nakama

 _"Supa Strikas are on the scoreboard," said Brenda._

 _"And they did by... playing playground games?" Mack is still confused._

 _"Well, it's working," said Brenda._

"Sensei Ura Giri, what do we do against this?" Miko Chen asked his coach.

"Ah, don't look at me. Just... just..." Ura Giri was lost for words. "Just play defense. Strong defense. Go!"

This time, Supa Strikas are playing a full-pitch offensive game. Although, they're doing more weird stuff that continue to bewilder Nakama and everyone else in the stadium.

El Matador is leading the charge at the spot where Dancing Rasta is supposed to be. On the left wing is North Shaw. On the right is Shakes. Dancing Rasta, Cool Joe, and Blok are circling the box as the forwards in this possession. Klaus and Twisting Tiger are in the back as the defenders.

 _"And now Supa Strikas are switching positions," said Brenda. "That seems familiar."_

 _"Not familiar to Nakama, apparently," said Mack._

El Matador barely skips pass a Nakama defender's tackle and passes the ball to North. North crosses the ball Cool-Joe-style to Blok. Blok stops on top of the penalty arc, seemingly waiting for something to happen.

All of a sudden, a blur zooms right through the Nakama defense. It was Twisting Tiger, having abandoned his defensive position to sneak into the offense. With Nakama's defense crowding Blok, that leaves Tiger open on the right side of the box. Blok smiles as he taps the ball to his right.

Tiger quickly takes his shot, kicking the ball with such strength and precision. Nakama's goalkeeper makes the mistake of diving left, because the ball heads to the other side of the goal.

Supa Strikas (2) - (3) Nakama

 _"And that cuts the deficit to 1," said Brenda. "Supa Strikas just need 1 more to tie and 2 to win the match."_

 _"With only 12 minutes left," Mack added._

"What is happening?" Ura Giri wondered out loud. He's just as confused as everyone. "There is no way Coach could've taught them something so random and risky. But how do we combat this new style of play?"

Nakama are on the attack, trying to extend their lead and make it unreachable Supa Strikas. Unfortunately, Twisting Tiger swipes the ball from Sakarama, twists around him to daze him, and kicks the ball to Shakes on the center field. This time, it's Shakes who is in the captain's position on the pitch. As for what weirdness Supa Strikas plan on pulling this time, all of their forwards and midfielders are forming a circle at the center of the pitch.

 _"Piggy In the Middle again... with Shakes in the middle?" Mack questioned. He's confused again._

Klaus, El Matador, Dancing Rasta, Cool Joe, and Twisting Tiger start running around in a circle. Shakes plays catch with his teammates, passing the ball to one member of the rotating circle. They each pass the ball back to Shakes as they keep running in literal circles. Due to Supa Strikas' running speed... and the feeling of confusion... Nakama couldn't find an opening to put an end to this seemingly childish tactic.

 _"I give up, Brenda. I don't know what Supa Strikas are doing," Mack gave up._

After about thirty seconds of playing around, Shakes kicks the ball high up in the air. The other Strikas stay in front of Nakama's players in order to keep them from interrupting this move. All eyes were up as the ball rises and fall from the sky. Shakes jumps high and goes for what appears to be a Bicycle Kick. However, it was not some gutsy shot from center field. No, it was...

A pass.

To Twisting Tiger, who used Shakes' distraction to sneak through Nakama's defense. Miko Chen and Sakarama give chase, but Tiger was too fast even for them.

Tiger stands on one hand and shoots with a powerful sweep kick from outside the penalty box. The Nakama keeper dives right, but the ball hits the upper-left corner.

Supa Strikas (3) - (3) Nakama

 _"And with that, the scores are tied," said Brenda. "Supa Strikas have Nakama and everyone else in the stadium dumbfounded by these random game plans. Do you think they're just making it up as they go?"_

 _"As you said, Brenda, it's working," said Mack._

Less than a minute remaining. The scores are tied at 3-3. Nakama have the ball with Miko Chen leading the way. Miko easily dodges Dancing Rasta's tackle, spins around both Klaus and Cool Joe, and makes a fool out of El Matador with a super quick left-to-right swerve. El Matador doesn't eat grass this time, but he does land on his backside.

Unfortunately for Miko, he has no answer for Twisting Tiger, who sneaks up on his with his twisting move and takes the ball away from him like an incoming tornado.

Tiger runs the other way with the ball. Miko and two Nakama defenders keep up with Tiger, trying to stop him from getting another opportunity to score.

 _"It looks Nakama are trying to crowd Twisting Tiger," said Mack. "He has scored all of Supa Strikas' goals today. What will he do now?"_

Twisting Tiger passes the ball to Rasta, turns left, and then gets the ball back from Rasta. Tiger dribbles the ball through El Matador's legs as well as another Nakama player's legs. Tiger is heading straight for Nakama's goalkeeper with Miko and two Nakama defenders on his tail. The Nakama goalkeeper decides to take a gamble and lunges for the ball.

Tiger dribbles the ball off his heal, leaps in the air, and kicks the ball away from the goal with a back-flip kick.

 _"Wrong way," said Mack._

 _"No, it's not," Brenda corrected. "Shakes is there!"_

Shakes leaps high to catch the ball. He leans sideways in mid-air and takes his shot. Nakama's keeper runs back to the goal and jumps to catch the ball... but he couldn't.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Supa Strikas win the rematch. 4-3," said Brenda. "Nakama were so focused on Twisting Tiger that they left Strikas' #1 scorer wide open. Talk about messing up Nakama's disciplined tactics."_

 _"And they did it without Coach," said Mack. "This is history, Brenda."_

Shakes and Twisting Tiger hi-five as everyone gathers together to celebrate this unbelievable win. No Coach. Coming off an embarrassing at Ga Shuku stadium. All odds were against them, but they beat those odds and won (barely).

"Who would've thought that fooling around would actually work this time?" Rasta said happily.

"When fooling around becomes a strategy, that is," said Shakes.

"I guess one way to break Nakama's razor-sharp concentration is to challenge their expectations in unusual ways," said Tiger.

"Hey, why can't we do this every time?" El Matador wondered.

"Because Coach wouldn't like it," Shakes said bluntly.

"But, surely, the Coach-meister is proud," said North.

"Well, let's hope so," said Shakes.

* * *

Back at the Bahamas, the people gathered around the hut where Coach is enjoying a drank are cheering. Supa Strikas win the game. Coach can't help but put on a smile. Despite feeling confounded by his team's bizarre tactics, he was glad that it ended in a win. They beat Nakama without him, and that's reason enough for him to be proud.

"So, Coach, what's the lesson they learned?" The beachgoer from earlier asked.

"The lesson is... when you can't beat them, mess with them," Coach answered.

 **I have this tendency to surpass the intended length of a chapter. Take this one for example. This chapter is 1.44x longer than the intended length, but I guess I was just having too much fun. I haven't written in months, and it feels good to be back.**


	11. Dance-Off

**Consider this a special request. I haven't really given Dancing Rasta any chance in the spotlight because of how fundamental he is, but maybe pitting him against the Samba King, Don Aldo, will prove to be the right move here.**

 **Enjoy.**

Supa Strikas are facing Palmentieri at the Ramba Stadium in a day. They're training in the jungle in order to adjust their speed, agility, and balance for Edwin's men. The forwards are currently running on quicksand to increase their speed. The midfielders are running on rocks on water and swinging on vines to test their agility. The defenders are dribbling soccer balls on logs on water to practice their balance.

Tiger had just completed the agility course (jumping over rocks, swinging on vines, and kicking a ball while swinging) for the third time in the past hour and done it flawlessly.

"I see Tiger's gotten better at the agility part of the training," Shakes said with light mocking, remembering Tiger's embarrassing first try on the agility course.

"This type of agility training was different than the ones I was used to," Tiger said defensively.

"But hey, check out Rasta. He's killing it today," said North.

Rasta is running through the agility course with grace and fundamental precision. He jumps over the rocks like he's doing dance steps. He swings on the vines while carefully turning his body in the air. Big Bo throws him a ball, and Rasta beautifully kicks it in time as he safely lands on his two feet. The ball bounces off a tree and lands in Shakes' hands.

"Wow, captain. I guess all that dancing from last night's party really prepared you today," said Shakes, wowed.

"Nothing gets me more hyped than a little dance on any field," said Rasta.

"In that case, show me your balance," Coach challenged.

Rasta moves to the balance part of the training. He stands on the log on the lake and starts dribbling the ball to the opposite end of said log, trying to keep his balance. Rasta shows the poise that he is known for on the dance floor. He's not doing it too fast or too slow. He's balancing his pace just as much as he's balancing the ball.

"Blok," Coach signalled.

Blok kicks a ball towards Rasta. Rasta sees the ball and quickly catches it on his right foot. Rasta kicks the second ball up high, dribbles the first ball to the opposite end of the log, and then catches the second ball with his right foot as it falls.

"Don Aldo may be the Samba King, but he's no dance maestro like our captain," said Shakes.

"And tomorrow, he's gonna show it to them," said Cool Joe.

* * *

The next day...

 _"Match day at the Ramba Stadium," Brenda commentated. "Palmentieri have proven themselves to be one of Supa Strikas' toughest competitions, but the Samba King is preparing to rewrite that sentence."_

 _"The Samba King against the Dancing Strika. Whose dance moves will prevail?" Mack wondered._

 _"They both got the moves, but who will outdance the other?" Brenda added._

Don Aldo gets off to a good start by evading Cool Joe's tackle with a smooth swerve and eluding North Shaw with a dance-like dribble move. Blok tries to get in the way, but Don Aldo goes for a fancy spin dribble move to easily dodge him.

 _"Don Aldo is showing off quite early in this game," said Brenda._

With no other defender to get in his way, Don Aldo aims for the lower left corner and shoots. Big Bo dives quickly and blocks the shot with his outstretched arm.

 _"But Big Bo is there to say no," said Big Bo._

Now, it's Dancing Rasta's turn. Don Aldo chases him up the field and gets right in front of him. Rasta starts doing some fancy dribbling to keep Don Aldo guessing. Rasta goes left twice and then goes right, only to get tackled by a Palmentieri striker.

 _"Ooh, Dancing Rasta had Don Aldo beat, but he didn't anticipate the help defense," said Mack._

 _"And it looks like Don Aldo is going to try again," said Brenda._

Don Aldo mesmerizes El Matador with some fancy dribbling, bouncing the ball off his foot and tapping it left and right. El Matador goes for the tackle, only for Don Aldo to leap to the right, leaving El Matador in the dust. North and Blok go at Don Aldo at the same time, but the Samba King dribbles through North's legs and jumps right between the Strikas' defensive duo.

Don Aldo takes another shot. Big Bo goes right, but the ball curves the other way.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Palma get on the board first," said Brenda. "All thanks to the Samba King's signature flare."_

 _"Dancing Rasta better put on his dancing shoes, because it's gonna be quite a dance battle down there," said Mack._

Blok takes the ball to the midfield and kicks it high to Dancing Rasta. Rasta dodges a Palmentieri defender with a nifty self-pass dribble, only to stop when Don Aldo gets in his way. Rasta dribbles the ball off his knee a few times, preparing for something. Rasta taps the ball to his left and then kicks it to the right, but Don Aldo's swiftness allows him to steal the ball.

 _"Rasta may have the fundamentals, but Don Aldo has the flashy speed," said Brenda._

 _"And here comes another Palma attack," said Mack._

Don Aldo tricks Klaus with a self-dribble heel kick and then swerves pass Shakes as he runs towards the box. Don Aldo passes the ball to a Palma teammate as he outruns North to the goal. Don Aldo gets the ball back and takes another shot. Big Bo dives right, but he couldn't catch the ball in time.

 _"Two-nil Palmentieri," said Brenda. "Don Aldo is outdancing and outplaying Dancing Rasta today."_

 _"And with Supa Strikas doing a mediocre job on defense, Rasta's gonna have to change dance moves soon," said Mack. "Maybe go from classics to a pop beat."_

A steal by a Palmentieri defender gives Don Aldo another opportunity to score. El Matador and Cool Joe each take their turns defending Don Aldo, but the Samba King beats them with a graceful leap and a fancy dribble that has them looking at another direction.

Fortunately for Supa Strikas, Twisting Tiger zooms in and swipes the ball from Don Aldo, karate-kick style. Tiger stands on his hands and finishes the Twisting Tackle with his upside-down twisting move. Tiger passes the ball through Palmentieri's midfield defense and it lands right at Rasta's feet.

 _"What beautiful defense and passing by Twisting Tiger," said Brenda._

 _"And with Don Aldo way back, Rasta has a chance to show off some moves," said Mack._

Rasta easily dodges a Palmentieri defender with a swift left dribble move and passes the ball to Shakes. Shakes quickly takes his shot, targeting the upper-left corner. The shot was so sudden that Palmentieri's defender dives too low to the right.

 _"GOOOOOOAAAL!"_

 _"Shakes puts Supa Strikas on the board, but his team still trails by one," said Brenda._

 _"And while Dancing Rasta did a nice move on that possession, everyone is gonna be wondering, can he beat Don Aldo when the challenge presents itself?" Mack said._

 _"We'll have to find out in the second half, Mack," said Brenda._

 **~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ SUPA STRIKAS** **~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~**

The second half begins and Palmentieri still lead the game, 2-1. Don Aldo has bested Dancing Rasta in both the soccer and dancing department, making everyone question if Rasta can lead his team while dealing with Don Aldo personally. Coach decides to give Rasta a pep talk on the sidelines.

"Don't be hard on yourself. We all knew Don Aldo wouldn't make it easy," said Coach.

"I know the problem now, Coach. I have to beat Don Aldo, yes, but not to best him. It is to win for the team," said Rasta.

"That's the right thinking. Now, get out there and show Don Aldo how to really dance," said Coach.

North kicks the ball away from a Palmentieri striker and towards the midfield. Rasta catches the ball and, once again, gets caught in a one-on-one matchup against Don Aldo.

 _"Dancing Rasta vs. Don Aldo, once again," said Brenda. "Can Rasta pull it off this time?"_

Dancing Rasta starts the matchup with some fancy dribbling, all the while making sure he doesn't give Don Aldo an opening for a tackle. Rasta keeps his eyes on both Don Aldo and the ball, keeping his opponent guessing on what he intends to do. Don Aldo keeps up with him pretty well, shifting his feet and focusing on the Strika captain's dribbling.

Rasta dribbles the ball off his right knee, off his left foot, and then off his left knee. Rasta's off-knee dribble sends the ball high, but instead of waiting for it to fall, Rasta leaps and headers the ball to El Matador. Rasta runs pass the distracted Don Aldo as he gets the ball back from El Matador.

 _"What fantastic trickery from Dancing Rasta," said Brenda._

 _"But Don Aldo is not letting him get away that easily," said_

Don Aldo tries to catch up with Rasta to tackle the ball from him. Rasta turns around in a stylish way as he dribbles the ball around Don Aldo. Don Aldo persists, but Rasta jumps over his tackle with poise. Rasta kicks the ball towards the box and straight to El Matador.

El Matador does some stylish dribbling and tricks the Palma goalee into diving with a fake shot. El Matador easily taps the ball into the net.

The game is tied 2-2.

 _"Supa Strikas are just dancing all around Palma in the second half, led by their captain," said Brenda._

 _"The Dancing Strika? More like the Dancing Maestro," said Mack._

A Palmentieri midfielder jumps over Blok's tackle, only to get immediately tackled by North upon landing. North kicks the ball all the way to Rasta. Don Aldo tries to swipe the ball from him, but Rasta goes for a swift heel tap that leads to a dance-like spin move that shakes Don Aldo off of him. Rasta kicks the ball to the right side of the box, where Tiger is.

Tiger stands on his hands as he catches the ball with his two feet. He twists upside-down to keep Palma's defense at bay and then shoots. Palma's goalie failed to react to the shot.

Supa Strikas lead 3-2.

Dancing Rasta leads the attack once again, with Don Aldo in his way. Rasta pulls off a series of graceful spin moves before passing the ball to Klaus. Klaus passes back to Rasta. Rasta dodges Don Aldo with a couple of self-pass kicks and then sends a powerful kick all the way to the box. Shakes looks like he was about to take a shot...

Only to pass it behind him without looking. Rasta has outrun Don Aldo to the ball and takes his shot with power.

Supa Strikas lead 4-2.

 _"I think we know who wins this dance battle," said Brenda._

 _"Dancing Rasta didn't just show us some moves. He did it with a combination of style and simplicity," said Mack._

 _"Well, no matter how flashy the players get, the fundamentals will always have a place in the Super League," said Brenda._

 **Well, request/suggestion completed.**


End file.
